Sony's PlayLink games are gone: every title, what still works in 2026 and what to play instead
Between 2017 and 2019 Sony released thirteen PlayStation games you did not control with a controller but with your phone. 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.
By Roy de Bie · Updated 21 September 2026 · 7 min read
In short
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. Five of the six are still listed for Android on the Amazon Appstore.
- 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 thirteen 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
- February 2019:Wish Studios, maker of Knowledge is Power and That's You!, closes its doors. After Erica (2019) no new PlayLink title appears.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. The overview of all thirteen titles is on Wikipedia.
Status per game
| Game | PlayStation Store | Companion app | Playable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge is Power (2017) | delisted Nov 2023 | gone from the App Store and Google Play in 2025 | only with an app installed earlier |
| Knowledge is Power: Decades (2018) | delisted Nov 2023 | gone in 2025; Android still via the Amazon Appstore | only with an app installed earlier |
| That's You! (2017) | delisted Nov 2023 | gone in 2025; Android still via the Amazon Appstore | only with an app installed earlier |
| Hidden Agenda (2017) | delisted Nov 2023 | gone in 2024-2025; Android still via the Amazon Appstore | only with an app installed earlier |
| Frantics (2018) | delisted Nov 2023 | gone in 2024-2025; Android still via the Amazon Appstore | only with an app installed earlier |
| Chimparty (2018) | delisted Nov 2023 | gone in 2024-2025; Android still via the Amazon Appstore | only with an app installed earlier |
Checked in September 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 on iPhone. If you ever downloaded an app on the same Apple ID or Google account, it usually still sits in your purchase history. On Android, the apps for That's You!, Hidden Agenda, Frantics, Chimparty and Knowledge is Power: Decades are still listed on the Amazon Appstore. 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?
Thirteen: 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.
Further reading: the Knowledge is Power alternative, what happened to Buzz!, fun penalties for the penalty wheel and Kwishetwel as a Kahoot alternative.