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All PlayLink games: what still works in 2026

Between 2017 and 2019 fourteen PlayStation games came out that you controlled not with a controller but with your phone.

Contents
  1. 01The short answer
  2. 02What PlayLink was
  3. 03How it vanished
  4. 04Status per game
  5. 05What to play instead, per game
  6. 06Frequently asked questions

The quiz show, the game about your own friends, the crime thriller the whole room voted on: PlayLink was the best excuse to get friends onto the sofa. In November 2023 the whole line quietly left the store, and then the apps followed one by one. This is where every game stands, and what comes closest today.

The short answer

  • Every Sony-published PlayLink party game has been gone from the PlayStation Store since November 2023. Sony never announced it.
  • Their companion apps vanished from the App Store and Google Play during 2024 and 2025. The Amazon Appstore, where five are still listed, has only worked on Amazon Fire devices since August 2025.
  • You can still play, on PS5 too, but only if everyone at the table already had the app. New players cannot join.
  • There is no successor. The idea, everyone plays on their own phone, lives on in browser games that need no console.

What PlayLink was

PlayLink was Sony's label for PlayStation 4 games where your phone or tablet is the controller: you download a free companion app, connect over the same Wi-Fi network, and the game on the TV reacts to what you do on your screen. No passing controllers around, no two- or four-player limit, and no barrier for people who never game. The line started in 2017 and ended up with fourteen titles, from the quiz show Knowledge is Power to a PlayLink version of UNO and the interactive film Erica.

The heart of the line were the party games Sony published itself: That's You!, Hidden Agenda, Frantics, Chimparty and the two Knowledge is Power games. Those six are exactly the problem today.

How it vanished

  1. February 2019: Wish Studios, maker of Knowledge is Power and That's You!, closes its doors. After Erica (2019) no new PlayLink title appears.
  2. Early November 2023: players on Reddit and PSNProfiles notice that Sony's party games are gone from the PlayStation Store. No press release, no explanation.
  3. 14 December 2023: Sony adds a notice to the app store pages of Chimparty, Frantics, Hidden Agenda, Knowledge is Power, Decades and That's You! that the apps are no longer offered on newer Android versions.
  4. 2024 and 2025: the apps disappear one by one from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Anyone who never downloaded them cannot join from that moment on.

The per-game timelines are on Delisted Games: That's You!, Hidden Agenda, Frantics, Chimparty, Knowledge is Power and Decades. An overview of the PlayLink titles is on Wikipedia.

Status per game

GamePlayStation StoreCompanion appPlayable?
Knowledge is Power (2017)delisted Nov 2023gone from the App Store and Google Play in 2025only with an app installed earlier
Knowledge is Power: Decades (2018)delisted Nov 2023gone in 2025; only left on the Amazon Appstore, which has run on Amazon Fire devices only since Aug 2025only with an app installed earlier
That's You! (2017)delisted Nov 2023gone in 2025; only left on the Amazon Appstore, which has run on Amazon Fire devices only since Aug 2025only with an app installed earlier
Hidden Agenda (2017)delisted Nov 2023gone in 2024-2025; only left on the Amazon Appstore, which has run on Amazon Fire devices only since Aug 2025only with an app installed earlier
Frantics (2018)delisted Nov 2023gone in 2024-2025; only left on the Amazon Appstore, which has run on Amazon Fire devices only since Aug 2025only with an app installed earlier
Chimparty (2018)delisted Nov 2023gone in 2024-2025; only left on the Amazon Appstore, which has run on Amazon Fire devices only since Aug 2025only with an app installed earlier

Checked in October 2026. The other PlayLink titles (UNO, Ticket to Ride, Erica, SingStar Celebration, Wordhunters, Melbits World, Just Deal With It! and Planet of the Apes) have no delisting record; check the store before you buy.

What to play instead, per game

Knowledge is Power and Decades

The quiz show with the Pyramid of Knowledge, the category vote and the power plays. This is the game we built Kwishetwel for: a quiz show on the big screen, everyone playing on their own phone via a QR code, without a console and without an app that can ever be pulled from a store. The full comparison, plus a playable round, is in Knowledge is Power quietly died: here's the alternative.

That's You!

No trivia but questions about the people in the room, from "which of you would..." to doodling on each other's photos. The closest thing is a quiz about your own friend group. On Kwishetwel you build that with your own rounds (part of the Ultimate plan), and the penalty wheel takes over the teasing. How your own questions work is in building your own rounds and mixing them with the catalog.

Hidden Agenda

Not a party game but a crime thriller by Supermassive Games, where the whole room votes on the phone about what the characters do, with secret objectives for anyone who wants to work against the group. There is no real quiz replacement for it. If it is the feeling of deciding a story together you miss, the Movie Night mode in Supermassive's The Dark Pictures Anthology comes closest: one controller passed around the room, no phones.

Frantics

Chaotic minigames with a sly fox as host, up to four players. For phone-controlled minigames on the TV, the Jackbox Party Packs are the standard today: players join through the browser, you buy per pack. If it is mainly the quizzing you want, a browser quiz with a penalty wheel is the cheaper and bigger-group-friendly option.

Chimparty

One button per player, monkeys, and minigames a six-year-old understands. For young players a family quiz on the TV is the logical replacement: everyone answers on their own phone, with questions pitched at their age. See family quiz for what that looks like with us.

If you just want to quiz tonight with whoever is there, that takes a few minutes: the host creates a free account, puts a quiz on the big screen, and everyone else scans the QR code. No app, no console, no store that can take it away.

Frequently asked questions

Is PlayLink discontinued?

Sony never announced it, but in practice yes: no new PlayLink titles appeared after 2019, the Sony-published party games disappeared from the PlayStation Store in November 2023, and their companion apps were pulled from the App Store and Google Play during 2024 and 2025.

Can I still download the PlayLink apps?

Not through the App Store or Google Play anymore. If you ever downloaded an app on the same Apple ID, you can usually still get it from your purchase history on an iPhone. Android is harder: in December 2023 Google Play stopped offering the apps on newer Android versions (from Android 10 or 12, depending on the game), and the Amazon Appstore, where five of them are still listed, has only worked on Amazon Fire devices since 20 August 2025. Loose APK files from random websites are not something we would recommend.

Do PlayLink games work on a PS5?

Yes, through backwards compatibility, as long as you own the game (on disc or bought digitally back then) and every player still has the matching app on their phone. Without the app the game does nothing.

Which PlayLink games were there?

Fourteen: Knowledge is Power, That's You!, Hidden Agenda, SingStar Celebration and Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier (2017), Frantics, Just Deal With It!, Chimparty, Wordhunters, UNO, Melbits World, Ticket to Ride and Knowledge is Power: Decades (2018), and Erica (2019).

What is the best replacement for a quiz night with phones?

Without a console: Kwishetwel, a quiz show in the browser on any screen, where everyone plays on their own phone via a QR code. On the console: It's Quiz Time, with phones as controllers and up to eight players.

Ready for your first quiz night?

Pick a quiz, put it on the TV and everyone plays along on their phone. Free to start.