Have seen a few discussions about various aspects of this that aren't fully covered in the article.
The "one-time" check is only after the refundable period for the game purchase has ended. If you go offline at any time during the refund window, you'll lose access after 30 days without checking in. This can be tested by removing the CMOS battery. Game won't launch.
It's not retroactive, only affects new purchases.
An unverified claim is that once the refund window has ended, the temporary license is automatically swapped with a permanent one.
Yes, there is a technical cause to do this given the ability for modded ps4's to effectively get free games direct from Sony by buying them, copying the license file and then refunding them before manually reapplying the copied license.
However, the new system doesn't prevent the same ps4's running pirated game copies via other methods. It only saves Sony some bandwidth.
The exploit also wasn't scalable because it involves the refund process, meaning abuse is easy to detect.
It's true that the customer impact is limited, but I don't see how it's worth it to prevent a small number of unauthorised licenses via one of several available methods. Especially given the negative press.
As always, DRM only hurts paying customers.