@viajeroceleste already laid out the step‑by‑step pretty cleanly, so I’ll just fill in the “what actually happens” side of it and some edge cases you’re probably worried about.
Think of it like this:
- Your PSN account = the owner of your games
- “Console Sharing and Offline Play” = which single PS5 is treated as your home / primary
- Anyone on that “home” PS5 can use your digital games on their own accounts
Game sharing = both of you make each other’s PS5 your “home” for your own account. That’s all.
Where people get freaked out is:
1. “Do I lose my games if my console isn’t primary?”
No. You always keep your games on your login, on any PS5, as long as:
- You’re signed into your PSN on that console
- PSN servers are up so it can check licenses
The only thing you lose by turning Console Sharing OFF on your own PS5 is:
Other user profiles on your PS5 can’t use your library anymore. You, on your own account, are fine.
So you’re not “giving away” ownership or anything.
2. “Can my friend lock me out?”
Not really, but they can annoy you if you’re not careful:
- They can log into your account on their PS5 and mess with settings, or start downloads, etc.
- They can change your password if you gave it to them directly.
Avoid that by:
- Setting up 2FA
- Changing your password after you sign into their console, then do not tell them the new one
- Only letting them use your games via their own account on their PS5
If you ever fall out, you can:
- Deactivate Console Sharing on their PS5 from your PS5, or
- Use the “Deactivate All Devices” option via the PSN website and then re‑enable on your own box
So you’re never permanently screwed, just mildly inconvenienced.
3. Things that can bite you
Some stuff @viajeroceleste hinted at, but I’ll be a bit harsher:
- If PSN goes down and your own PS5 is not your primary, some games might refuse to boot on your account. If you care about offline reliability, game sharing is a tradeoff.
- Do not try to share your account with a second or third friend. Sony’s TOS hates that and weird login patterns can flag your account.
- Don’t both spam logins on each others’ accounts, especially at the same time. You can get sign‑out messages, “you were signed in elsewhere,” etc. It’s annoying and looks sus.
4. Quick mental model
When it’s all set up:
-
On your PS5, you log in as you, play:
- Your games (because it’s you)
- Friend’s games (because their account has Console Sharing ON on your console)
-
On their PS5, they log in as them, play:
- Their games (because it’s them)
- Your games (because your account has Console Sharing ON on their console)
Both of you stay on your own profiles, keep your own trophies, saves, friends, etc.
The only “risk” is trust: they physically have your account on their box.
If that part makes you even slightly nervous, then honestly game sharing might not be worth the stress, because technically everything works fine, socially it blows up the instant you stop trusting each other.