According to a new report from Kirk Mckeand of The Gamer, Sony plans to shutter the online stores associated with its PlayStation 3 console and handheld devices PS Vita and PSP. This means you won't be able to purchase digital versions of any of the games listed on the storefronts. The PS3 and PSP shops are supposedly being taken offline on 2nd July 2021, while the PS Vita gets a little longer until 27th August 2021. Sony will confirm the news at the end of this month, with the information coming from a source "familiar with the situation", according to the website in question.
The question the report doesn't answer, however, is whether you'll still be able to download the games you've already purchased past the proposed expiration dates. We have to assume you will, but we're sure it's a point the hardware manufacturer will clarify should this news prove to be true. This, of course, builds upon Sony's plans last year which saw the PS Store available on the web redesigned, dropping PS3 and PS Vita titles in the process. Now, if this report comes to fruition, fans will have to rush to snap up any titles they want digitally, with those expiration dates not too far away. It's surprising too, given the fact that PS Vita games continue to release to this very day.
Further supporting this claim is ScourgeBringer director Thomas Alternburger, whose game is getting a PS Vita version next month. He states that the team knew about the PS Vita online store shuttering, with it being the "last game to be approved and produced".
What do you make of this? When was the last time you bought a PS3, PS Vita, or PSP game digitally? Share the receipts in the comments below.
[source thegamer.com]
Comments 188
Well this sucks. Guess the PS Vita will become even more necessary to install CFW on.
Massively disrespectful from Sony just snapping these games out of existence
Wouldn't be so bad if they put everything on psnow for all legacy platforms and make everything downloadable.
So now we won't have a way to play PS1 games on modern[ish] hardware
Definitely disappointing news and will need good communication from Sony if true. Have contacted them to see if they'll tell me more about what we can expect.
Feel like this is the kind of thing that should be communicated well in advance — games are still releasing on PS Vita!
Can someone explain to me why separate storefronts are even needed? Why not just the one store?
Welp time to go on a PSOne classics shopping spree before this all goes under
This is awful news, all those signed up for a digital future get used to it, sadly.
To be fair to Sony this has been a long time coming. Unlike Xbox the modern consoles do not need the old online stores to function. It is unlikely Sony make much money off the PS3 and PS Vita stores.
It would be a shame however if they also closed down online purchase lists preventing gamers from redownloading purchased content on older consoles. I'd like to think Sony would offer to keep those parts alive for a few years.
With the PS and Vita however its not really a problem. As soon as Sony remove the ability to purchase games from them then hacking your console and installing ROMs becomes a grey area rather than outright illegal as you cannot give Sony any money for games.
I'm gutted with the Vita store closing great bit of kit criminally undervalued IMO.
As said above the least they could do is make PS Now work on Vita for classic PS1/PS2 games etc rather than just kill it
I find the Switch is too big to take away with me hence the Vita is always what I take on holiday/business!
Not happy about this. I hope if you buy games they will still allow you to download them. I recently had a problem with the corrupted memory card and I had to re-download my games. But at the same time I guess that’s the way it goes.
That's suck, there's still games released on psvita, and it's still the best place to play 2D games and psone classic 😕
I wish sony released psone classic titles on ps4/5, it's absurd thats ps3 and psvita have it, but ps4/5 can't play digital psone games.
I’ve literally just bought a ps vita ffs! I’ve got all the plus games for god knows how long to play but still. Very frustrating they can’t continue to support this.
I have been holding out on hacking my vita, but if they remove the ability to access purchased content on the vita store, all my ethical qualms will vanish.
To be honest the PSP console store has closed for years. You can still redownload games or download new ones but now you can only buy them from the PS3 store. It would be bad if you could not download old titles, although it is a chore to do it. Currently in the Vita download list you cannot search or filter the games and shows all digital items you own! It is a mess. Sometimes the PSP somehow forgets that I have a valid digital licene. It was a pain but I slowly backed up all my PS3, PSP and Vita digital content while updating them to the current versions and saved them to multiple locations.
They really are desperate to kill off the Vita. Its so dumb given games are still releasing, and more are/were slated to release in the future. Of course Sony wont be kind enough to have a final massive sale on the store either.
Honestly, it reeks of the same contempt they have had for the platform and all those that still own and play on the system for the past 3 or 4 years.
@thefourfoldroot Because Sony.
I need to get the left stick fixed on my vita so i can play all the games im about to purchase on it.
Digital is the future as long as the store is open what a bright future.
@belmont No, the PSP store is still very much alive. You have to search for what you're looking for, but you can still make purchases on the storefront itself. I've been slowly buying all the DLC for Rock Band Unplugged on the PSP.
Oh boy here come a week of think pieces on the evils of digital games on every site for the next month lol!
Definelty sucks but I cant imagine there's a ton of traffic on them nowadays anyway. Hope they have some good sales before shutting down!
Hopefully Sony will clarify whether or not someone can still download digital titles and access purchased DLC. It would be a real bummer if you can't.
As long as they confirm we can still download our previously purchased games it's not the end of the world but if they prevent us from doing that it will further fuel my distaste for digital only games... I mean it can't cost that much to keep these stores open right? Especially with reports of PSN making more money than Nintendo and Xbox combined, paying a few Devs to keep the stores ticking over will hardly bankrupt Sony.
This is the biggest reason I was holding out hope that Sony would add PS3 to backwards compatibility on PS5. If it's not playable on the current hardware it gets shut down.
360 seems to possibly be heading this way too as the Halo servers are shutting down in December 2021. Is this a sign of further 360 shutdowns or a result of MCC rendering the original releases obsolete?
@Rob_230 Honestly if they're that desperate I'm genuinely surprised the Vita store lasted as long as it did
I was honestly expecting them to take it down in the lead up to the PS5's launch when they already revamped the PS Store to just accomodate for PS4 and PS5 games
The Store closing down like almost 10 years after the console launched is both upsetting but also kind of surprising considering how quickly Sony wanted to phase the console out
Having ruminated on this report a little longer, I have one major criticism really: this should have been communicated much earlier (like a year in advance). The fact that it's still not officially confirmed but is happening in July is unacceptable.
Games launched on PS Vita this year, and will have had months of potential sale time. That's not really good enough.
Some people have spent £1000s on the store so hopefully you will still be able to download your purchases for now.
The official announcement (if true) will definitely affect how I buy PS5 games when I get one.
“Digital is the future” they said.
Welcome to the future. Games vanishing forever. It’s not like it hadn’t already happened but this will be the biggest purging of 1000s of games out of existence as Vita and Ps3 had loads of digital only titles
@get2sammyb agreed. no one and I mean no one can defend this. Whilst it was only a matter of time. This is a massive blow to gamers. So many games will be gone forever and I assume so many games will be unpatchable.... I guess we need to know more to see if patching on vita and PS3 will still be alive
Bit disappointed but not a surprise.
If we can't download from there need to work out if there's a way to back everything up on a hard drive...
My Vita is really struggling right now anyway. Buttons not working great...
That's disappointing if true. I'll have to have a look on the Vita store later and see if there's anything more I still want to buy on it.
Bummer my Vita has become a nice puzzle gaming system for me... it’ll stink not having new stuff. Not surprising though.
I really hope this is false as I only recently bought a ps vita. Had one few years ago but lost it on the bus lol
I've held of buying a Vita because they are still too pricey in my opinion, all things considered. Not going to bother any time soon.
If the store is being killed altogether, will downloaded games even still work, with nowhere to check the licenses?
And what about ps+ collected games.
Guess it was going to happen sooner or later, the reason I buy mostly physical, but this is really poor timing, given Microsoft an open goal.
Stuff like this is why the lack of backwards compatibility with digital PS3 games is a serious mark against PlayStation. I don't care how the tech works. They at the very least need to find some way for people to easily purchase and play first and second party PS3 games digitally on a PS5. Xbox has been doing this for years now. Sony needs to step it up big time.
My Vita has lasted 9 years then! Thats disgraceful from Sony
Gonna have to do this homebrew thing I guess.
Sony is a joke. They kill their own products even if there're people still playing.
@Robinsad They already did it when they had decided to exclude these consoles from sales since late 2019. There are a lot of PS3 games costing the release price.
@Balosi they are only killing the store. Servers are another thing.
I was thinking about hooking up my ps3 for the hell of it now i might not bother
@vhsodre
If you think sony is a joke why are u here on a sony related site?
PS3 store has some classics I need to get still. Gonna start up a buy list. I assume we can still download purchases after it closes?
Disappointing that Sony cannot keep up Vita store servers, but Nintendo can still keep up Wii U store servers. They sold around the same and released around the same time so there's no excuses.
That’s horrible, there are still digital PS3 I have my eye on. This is purely unacceptable. Legacy support is important. This makes obtuse look really good. There’s no news of this happening with the 360. Maybe Sony Should just stop trying to count beans so hard with online aspects of Playstation.
@eltomo no one seems to know. When Nintendo do it they make the games unavailable to download, but it's never caused much of a fuss because no one really bought from those systems online.
This is the first 'big one' closure, systems that a lot of people bought digital stuff for.
How much does it cost Sony to maintain them? Seriously. Absolutely ridiculous decision.
Another bonehead move from the games industry that goesn't give a care about the past.
WHAT. This is absurd! I
This is very disappointing for me as an active Vita users. I want them to confirm if a) my already purchased titles will still exist, b) will trophy info still sync and c) will physical titles still have patches available for download?
This is insane. I still play my PS3 weekly, and would love to keep exploring the digital only catalog.
And you know what? Most of us pay $60 a year for PS+, can’t some of that money go towards maintaining the servers?
I love Sony products, but they seem to be making some anti-consumer choices as of late.
@Rudy_Manchego I don't own one physical game for my vita, it's going to turn from great rpg device to brick if digital games no longer available.
physical vita games are expensive already, and this is just going to push them even higher, no way am I getting into that.
So will I now have to spend £200 + on vita memory cards so I can download all my vita titles on said cards or will all my games that I've purchased just never be available to me again?
Going digital with Vita was a poor decision on my part. The value of those little carts are going to explode.
FINALLY negative PS news that doesn’t affect me personally
Last month I was browsing PSP store. Those prices were ridiculously high. I rather visit some auctions and buy UMDs.
@eltomo I wouldn't assume anything just yet!
This is where CFW comes in. Sometimes procuring "backups" is the only way.
This wouldn't be so bad if:
1)Sony still offers the option do download past purchases, and,
2)Sony actually bothered to put all of their games, from PS1 to Vita, through PSNow so that anyone from the big platform can enjoy what they were missing out on...or you know, just release a big collection a la Rare Replay.
@Balosi Exactly - I have been quietly collecting physical games for some time now where I can find them cheap but a lot of the best games are not available in the west.
Plus the price and unreliability of the bespoke memory cards mean I can't just download all my games locally.
Although not confirmed yet,wouldn't surprise me ever since they relegated the PS3/Vita store sections to "legacy mode",with only purchases via the console.
As has been noted,the question of an ability to re-download purchases,or in the instances needed to install an update is unknown....Had a couple of PS Plus titles like Beyond Good & Evil HD which could only be played on PS3 as never got a PS2 classics release on PS4 sadly.
Ditto Monkey Island 1 & 2 Special Edition's,& Red Dead Redemption/Undead Nightmare, which is unlikely to ever get a remaster.
What a garbage move by Sony. Just another way for them to piss there fans off.
There slowly working there way back to second place in the console market. Im starting to get strong PS2 to PS3 vibes from them. Last thing, I still play my PS3 to this day and if they ever blocked my purchases ive already made. I guarantee they've got a class action lawsuit waiting on there hands, and I would be first in line.
Wow.... I spent so much money on PS1 games on my PS3 Been waiting for sony to ATLEAST allow BC for ps1 games on ps5 but i doubt its gonna happen. All those people who told me to "just get a ps3" if I wanted to play my old games still looking like clowns.
Sony dgaf man
@Ralizah They really have already. Some cart titles are already going for £25 plus for the most common games with many rarer going for upwards of £50.
@Rudy_Manchego Oh, sure, but if Sony is really fully killing off the digital option, those little cartridges are going to skyrocket in value even more than they already have.
@TrueAssassin86x You can like parts of Sony while being critical of others
For example, I think The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is piece of s**t but that doesn't discourage me from buying PlayStation stuff
Not good really, having psp and PS1 games available on the Vita is convenient. As someone mentioned above, this would remove the PS1 Library which is a shame. Also, I don't have all my purchased games downloaded so would be very poor if can't download items already purchased.
@JapaneseSonic does the pc one still work? If so I'll have a look at it if this is officially anmounced.
Edit : though, as already mentioned, piracy becomes a lot more guilt free on devices companies consider dead.
I have dreaded the day this would happen. I have spent a lot of money on those stores. They better let you re download. I also was still planning on buying more. Have actually recently bought si è dlc and games on ps3. As for the physical argument, the way things are now, the game on the disk is broken and you need the patches. So it is basically the same thing if they turn down the download servers. Really makes me want to drop console and go pc. Though Xbox does seem like they are going to keep things up.
Good thing I bought Persona 4 Golden when I did
@Stocksy You can buy external hardrives and store all those digital games on that hardrive and it would function as a huge cd disk.
@JapaneseSonic no, all companies are deliberately non committal. They used to use the phrase 'keep forever' a lot but that's been swept under the rug.
@Grumblevolcano considering it's just the Halo games, and it's only the MP servers (you will still be able to play the campaigns online), and that other titles, like Gears, are still up for sale and full online play, I'm going to go ahead and say it's the latter.
They've made huge improvements to MCC. It houses all the 360 titles and in mostly better conditions. The BC games also had next to no one playing those titles since MCC launched, while MCC has been improving for population since they started the last few years of updates.
It would also make zero sense for MS to shut down the 360 games/servers since they've made such big efforts to make sure those games play on the xbox one, and series consoles, and have also talked about bringing more OG and 360 titles to the BC programme.
Digital stores are so good for the consumer. Let's all ditch physical releases.
All coming home to roost.
@Ralizah I know... part of me is annoyed as I have been collecting... the other is going to do his Smaug the dragon impression by laying on all his Vita physical collection.
Though that would probably break them all. Hadn't thought that through.
@JapaneseSonic Good idea and I do though my HDD is fairly full on that. Good suggestion though, thanks!
They HAVE to let you still download games you've already bought, right? If not, what's the difference between that and breaking into your home and stealing your games outright?
You'd think there would be a permanent price drop before it happens. So many indie and retro games I played on xbox360 I could be tempted by for a lower price, e.g. Hell Yeah Wrath of the Dead Rabbit and Assassin's Creed 2, but it probably won't happen
@Insightful I mean, you're entitled to your opinion, but I think comments like this are major overreactions.
My guess is this is their plan to stop piracy on these systems. Remove the store and any ability to download games onto these systems.
I already downloaded and backed up my Vita games in response to the last time the Vita store went down, which prevented games from being downloaded. Better to be safe than sorry.
@LiterallyDoNotCare You cant store Games on the external Harddrive on PS3
@LordSteev WiiU/3DS already closed in over 40 countries last year without the ability to re-download the Games you bought. Same for Wii
@get2sammyb I know that keeping these stores updated for old tech is a bind but I really do think Sony have forgotten what a Vita was.
After the release of the comedy Web Store thing, the Vita and PS3's only update source were their own browsers for downloading (or re-downloading) the games.
Perhaps they could relaunch the old store (the good one) and have that exclusively for PS Vita, PSP and PS3 downloads? Or how about adding a feature where you can download a game to a console and then transfer it to a hand-held machine? The PS3 had this option, can it be that difficult?
Perhaps I need to look into backing up my Vita onto my PC or has that option been removed too?
Hopefully, if true, the news is followed by a massive sale on all the titles. Sell what they can for 50 pence a pop and Sony(and whoever publishes the games) would make a nice little sum from the last remaining users of these systems.
@JapaneseSonic Games cant be stored on a external HDD on PS3, only on the internal
With a PS3 backlog of +50 physical games, I best get to work now downloading/installing any required patches before it's too late.
I'm off down to Bristol to start a riot about this.
@IonMagus
Don't people get pissed at that? Any lawsuits? Or is Sony/Nintendo truly covered and unassailable due to some small print somewhere? That sucks, man.
@ApostateMage LOL!
I'm with you in spirit, even if I don't show up irl. You go, man!
@Milktastrophe - It won't stop piracy whatsoever. Dumped Vita games are not difficult to find.
@JapaneseSonic Where did you read this? Bc this wasnt possible until years into the PS4 life. Only Screenshots, some Save Games and Videos can be saved external
@LordSteev Well its most likely covered in the fine print lol. Same as many SP Steam Games not working offline
Welp, nothing to see here folks. Just ol' Jim Ryan running the PlayStation brand into the ground. Just ol' Jimbo continuing to prove that he's the worst thing that ever happened to the brand.
Just another day ending in "y."
wow, so soon? are you kidding me? sony WANTS me to pirate psn exclusive ps3 and vita games then? sure thing. in any case, our previous purchases better be supported. if not, the crazy physical collectors (myself included) can point at the naysayers and say: "i told you so!". if i am not mistaken, nintendo is only temporarily allowing people to re-downlod their content from the e-ship after it was shuttered. how long will they allow it, though? anyone's guess.
Gaming is all about moving forward, not backwards.
Speaking of which:
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-03-22-over-700-ps2-prototypes-and-demos-released-by-game-preservation-group
@IonMagus true. Was referring to ps4 and now.hopefully this pushes devs to make remasters. There are a few key must play ps3 games missing. They are still making remasters (amalut, ninja gaiden and mass effect for example)
@KnightRider1982 no it is not. just because something is older does not render it bad or useless. on the contrary, many would argue that gaming was better in the past. many publishers do a horrific job when it comes to gaming preservation. do you want digital exclusive games to disappear into the ether forever? unfortunately, "piracy" is sometimes the only method to preserve many titles in this digital landscape we find ourselves in.
Guess I should download a couple things on my non-CFW Vita... Just in case it can't be done later.
@Porco When WiiU/3DS Stores closed last year in quite a few countries you werent able to re-download your past purchases at all
@JapaneseSonic thx! I did not know that..I honestly thought you could only download vita games to the actual vita??
This is exactly why an all digital future will be disastrous
Almost all of the PSVita and PS3 games I own are digital, so the thought of not being able to re-download anything ever again is LAME.
As for owning physical games for PSV and PS3, the other issue is potentially not being able to access updates or install data that's not on the disc. So even that isn't a fool-proof solution.
You know what platform doesn't have this problem? PC. Yet another reason to switch over.
@Mostik We still have PKGJ
Wow there’s a major meltdown in the comments rn 😂😂
Majority of my ps vita library is digital and I have a bunch of digital games for PS3 too so I will have a lot to loose if this really is true, not happy at all about this.
@Porco
So you would remain in the past rather than moving forward?
Time to get a Ps3 and jailbreak it.
@stinkyx Issnt PC Gaming digital only for years now? With stuff like Denuvo its bad too
@Goat_FromBOTW Very true mate, I hadn't used it before now but it looks like I will have to, god bless the internet work arounds 😁
Some people have faith that our purchases will be secure.
I don't.
I already have purchased I can't access for my Vita. They had a branch of their PS Mobile store on Vita, and when it shuttered they tanked your redownload ability as well. There wasn't much of value there, but I think about it every now and then because it had a port of the first Chaos Rings. A game which is challenging to play these days.
End of an era. I remember getting my first credit card so I could buy Mortal Kombat 2 on PSN.
@Americansamurai1 Heh, I don't want PS Now. So no that doesn't help.
@thefourfoldroot because keeping the store front compliant with modern security policy would require a team to continue updating the platform. By cutting out old platforms, the user account handling will not need updating.
@Shigurui Are they actually dumped and backed up somewhere? The big "pirate store" that someone actually mentioned by name on here downloads the games from Sony's servers. If Sony shuts down those servers as part of this, then that won't work anymore.
130 comments later... And this aint a TLOU Part 2 topic...
If they close the store how would you access your paid content? Would they update the console to just include a "Download List" only function?
What about updates for games? I hope these sorts of things can be downloaded and put up on the net so we can jailbreak our ps3s and use the updated versions. Also have to think about all the dlc that could be lost.
PS3 and PS Vita systems and games are already collectors items. If you want to invest, consider PV Vita games as a counter to Bitcoin and Gold - wait 20 years and see if this is wrong. PS3 and Vita physical versions are getting tougher by the day to find cheap - by shutting down digital, they are making them more valuable. The question I have is whether games downloaded on a PS Vita memory disk (also collectors items) going to have any value someday? What will someone pay 50 years from now to have a fully functional Vita loaded with games?
@sanderson72 We need to see what they announce officially first. This report, while I believe it's true, is alarming because it doesn't include any additional information, which you'd expect Sony to communicate when it comments on this.
We've chased them for a comment but obviously they're not saying anything yet. When they do speak, I'd expect them to explain fully what's going to happen.
It may just be that your library is retained but you can't purchase anything. Which would still suck, but it's not AS bad.
@IonMagus Yes, but it's way more accessible so games move to different servers etc. And when they don't get permission people find a way to illegally host/download games/patches etc. It's much easier for fans to keep track of these things on pc.
So does that mean even purchased games, we wont be able to re-download?
Notice they did this after releasing an all digital platform and not before. I wonder if that’s a coincidence.
@Badheelman PS Memory Cards are tied to your PSN Account and cant be changed without formating it (except if you have a CFW installed) so I doubt this will be a big market lol
Its actually really difficult to see how you buy stuff on the PS3 store already. No prices are listed and you have to click on the game image and add to your cart to see the price. So whiIe I have bought some digital PS3 games recently, its sort of hidden already (at least on the PS3 store here in the UK).
@Robinsad They already had the PSP Go years ago lol
Sony makes itself harder to love every week. After the no games PS5 thumbtack drifting all over. Now this. Why? Why? Why? How can Steam sell me games from 2001 and Sony can't sell something from 2009? Suckny
@Spyroescape Download them off the net for free. I have an extensive catalogue or ps1/snes/nes/n64 and GC games on portable HDDs. Ps2, Wii/U and ps3 I own physicals. I actually don't know about Wii U if patches are still available since they started shutting stuff down, but tbh it is more concerning about ps3 games as the 3rd party studios patches are important.
@KnightRider1982 can't we have both? i really don't see the point you are trying to make. preserve the past and enjoy the present.
Is there a way to re-download a purchased game on the Vita without going to the PS Vita Store, searching for that game and clicking on the Download button on the game's page? I'm afraid that if they shut down the Store, we won't be able to re-download any games at all.
Will we also lose access to PS+ games on the Vita? The console checks periodically when you try to launch a game that the game is still eligible for download (your PS+ subscription has not expired). I'm wondering, what will be with these games?..
@skaarj217 currently there is no way to purchase ps3 and vita content anywhere but from the consoles themselves. when the stores shut down, we will likely still be able to go into our "download/purchase history" and re-download from there. it will be a miserable experience scrolling through hundreds of games without search filters but it will work for a while at least. who knows, though... sony might eventually prevent us from accessing purchased content in the future... or various content may simply "expire" due to various lisensing agreements. it has happened before and will happen again.
Twitter kicked up a storm when Microsoft wanted to raise the prices of Xbox Live Gold. I wonder if such a fuss will be kicked up on Twitter about this mess?
For me these stores died the second Sony essentially stopped organising sales. Who’s going to buy really old games at full price?!
This whole situation may become a mess. Game preservation in those systems may become troublesome.
In PSP you can theoretically "copy-paste" the digital games (PSP is recognized as a USB drive in Windows 10) from the console to the hard drive and then "copy-paste" them back to the same PSP or a different tied to the sma account. However, it does not work well. Some games keep telling me that I do not have the license and I have to redownload it. In previous years you could use the "Media Go" program to back up but the software is disconitued. It is a pain to browser the download list.
In PS3 you cannot store games in external HDDs but you can do a whole system backup. However, you cannot use "big" HDDs. Still it is a pain to download your old games or update the installed ones. It can oly be done manually and you can only do one update at a time.
In Vita you can use Sony's software to back up Vita, PSP and PS1 games in a Windows 10 PC or a PS3. You can use SD2Vita to install up to 100 bubbles/folders in the console in up to 512GB SD card. It is a pain to download in the Vita console from the Vita itself. You can use a PS3 but most games are not there.
The probles are that you cannot search the dowload list. If the older servers close and you cannot register a console and the older one bites the dust you lose the digital content but this is a worst case scenario.
This is really upsetting. I still buy PS Vita and even PS3 games from time to time. Still have a few games on my wishlist. It was frustrating enough already that we can't shop for these games on the web store.
I wonder if games that support cross-buy between PS4 and Vita will still provide entitlement for both versions. Hope they run a big sale before the end.
Ps3 or PSP sure whatever but the Vita is still something I and I'm sure many others use, this shouldn't even be legal if you ask me, at least of they're stopping us from playing our purchased games
And just like that I begin hacking my Vita
@ IonMagus My question is really about non-sanctioned or non-transferred games (illegal in Sony's eyes so purely hypothetical) . For example, I have a fully loaded PS Vita with downloaded games - of course you can't wipe it and reload, but as is, what would a collector pay 50 years from now? Or how much value will my grandkid be able to generate with my downloaded games, or rather, the games I wisely bought for them years in advance?
Don't really care... haven't bought anything on either for at least 7 years, and had very little digitally anyway.
As much as people here are complaining, Sony wouldn't be shutting it down if it was seeing a reasonable amount of traffic and generating any significant sales; it's a case of "use it or lose it", and clearly not enough people were using it. It's probably reached the point where it's costing them more cash to keep it functioning than it generates, so... away it goes.
You won't lose access to what you've already bought, that's pretty much guaranteed; you just won't be able to buy anything new.
Either way, given the examples of OnLive, Ouya, and (quite possibly, soon) Stadia, the lesson from this for everyone should be: if you want to be absolutely certain that your games are yours to keep forever, buy physical media - it's the only way to be sure. As unlikely as it may be, any of these companies could disappear tomorrow, and take your entire collection with them.
Going the same way as the Wii virtual console. Would be nice if one could redownload purchased titles but I sadly don't expect to be able too. Time to back up and download all those PS3 games then...
The timing if true of a July deadline is however appalling. Seems all I do is criticise Sony lately but I can hardly support them when they pull stuff like this. Really hope a change in management occurs soon.
@TrueAssassin86x because of the simple fact that this decision affects me as well. Also, It's not because I'm here or own their system that I always have to agree with them, nor adulate them.
Started a few month ago with buying some physical releases of games I had on my PS Vita wishlist. I had this feeling. Happy I started early the prizes will go up now 😞
@IonMagus Yes, PC gaming is almost 100% digital, but I meant that you don't have to worry about accessing your old games because they're always available to you. One platform for all games. I can still download and play all the PS3-era games I own, and there's no sign that I'll ever NOT be able to do so.
@JapaneseSonic Yeah, that's true. Buttons degrade, and thermal paste dries up! I'm still kicking myself for not jumping on this one eBay deal that was (2) OELD Vitas for $100, in great shape with all the cords (but not the original packaging).
@Americansamurai1 The hope that Sony will update their PS Now service to include ALL PS3 and Vita games is the only reason I'm not rushing out to complete my wishlist that I've been sitting on all these years.
Even then, I have the best internet available to me (at $80 per month) but it still shows noticeable input lag when I used PS Now or any other game-streaming service, at 900p and 30 FPS no less...
Just tried to buy some DLC of a couple of games I know I will play and an error occured, anyone else having these issues?
nooooo Sony! dont close these stores up.! we all need these!!
This is the kind of stuff that makes PS my exclusives-only platform and all 3rd party goes to XB. XB is committing to preserving the library (up to a point) Steam-style, while Sony's now starting down the Nintendo path of "the platform exists while we say it does." This was their first test of digital storefronts. Instead of going the PC route like MS, they're now going the Nintendo route. Nobody ever wins from the Nintendo route of doing business except Nintendo (and now Sony.)
@GrumbleVolcano MS has been adding content to the 360 store, and the OG XB store over the years, including things like FFXIII that never even had a digital release until 2018. And they're adding features like AutoHDR to said games and made the BC a central part of the Series platform. Those old stores aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The one thing the probably ought to do is merge the stores into the new stores at this point, it's weird that they're semi-separate stores still running without a common backend for the new consoles.
The fact that once they shut down these stores games will be lost forever, some didn't even go disc based and went digital only. The PS3 store hasnt been updated since 2019 it's still got FIFA 2019 as the main screen photo, it's a joke because Sony has been very communicative about backwards compatibility apart from PS4 to 5 titles and that's if they are patched.
Microsoft have been doing it right as you can play original Xbox on series x, still buy original games. It's bad enough that Cartridge games are going that the past gens are dying now, thank God for emulation and people backing up past games
Well, this is a bit of a kick in the guts news to wake up to.
Well that's a sad end for the last few decades of digital stuffs. Hopefully they had some of these plan for their cloud service in the near future for their new generation to enjoy.
So this is why I’ve been steadily amassing that PS3 physical collection.
Of course this was going to happen at some point, but perhaps this was expected a little later rather than sooner.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve invested so much in PS platforms over the years, I almost wish I’d favoured Xbox, as they seem to have a far better approach towards backwards compatibility and legacy support.
I Want To Know Why Sony Doesn't Just Add All Of Their Legacy Stuff To PS Now This Is a Question That Needs To Be Brought To Jim Ryans Attention.
@get2sammyb
This really is the major point. When the SingStar servers were shut down, that was communicated well in advance. There are many, many people that still own and play on these platforms who may well now miss out on a number of digital-only games if they choose/cannot afford to buy them before the planned store closures.
Sony’s attitude towards their legacy systems and games has really disappointed me. They will happily celebrate their history in Astro’s Playroom, yet it seems to be exactly that - history. Sony do not want to keep this legacy alive for the great number of people who still wish to play on all the Sony consoles and not just the one that is considered the latest and greatest.
I shall certainly look after my PS3 even more now and perhaps add a few more titles to the horde in the future. Perhaps more people may swing back to physical collections if this is the direction that Sony is heading in.
My investment in the PlayStation ecosystem is one of the reasons I push on with PlayStation consoles. If they are going to remove that investment then they erode my anchoring to their products.
@NEStalgia Nothing's been added since June 2019 and Microsoft keeps saying it's increasingly difficult to add more titles to BC so just wary of the possibility that the 360 store is shut down leaving the BC collection on XB1/Series X left. I'll be more convinced 360 is safe if more titles get added to BC.
@themightyant it won't happen for ps4 as those games will still be playable even after 20 years, psvita and ps3 games were not playable by ps4 natively unlike the ps5 with the ps4 games
Unless Sony makes a digital store similar to Virtual console on PS5 with all of their previous gen libraries, this is a big L on them.
As someone who owns a Vita, PSP Go and a PS3, I'm just glad that CFW is easy to do on these consoles nowadays. Saves you the hassle anyway since Sony may no longer support their old games
@Grumblevolcano True. I think more will be, but yeah, theres some concern. That said, the fact you can still buy og xb games and bc is a centerpiece of their brand, I don't think this gen its going away. I still think what will see is eventually the 360 store is shut down on 360, but the bc titles will be moved up onto the main/permanent store. That still cuts off 360 titles that don't have bc. And I think publisher interest died when nintendo and sony proved you can keep selling ports and remasters so full price.
Funny how people are taking this article as the absolute truth instead of...I don't know...waiting and see.
I gotta admit, since I bought my Pro 4+ years ago I haven't touched my PS3 even if most of my games are digital on it.
I just hope they do still let us download them after the store is gone.
If this happen, this is totally a Jim Ryan move. Yes im going to say it anyway regardless. Jim Ryan sucks.
F-ing terrible. I must’ve spent thousands in all 3 shops combined especially PS3! This is why it’s just sooo disappointing that Sony couldn’t figure out backwards compatibility with PS3 and why once again I say PHYSICAL FOREVER!!! 😡
My case just bought camoaign DLCs of enslaved and sleeping dogs, heavy rain, tom clancys end war and Ruse, dmc.
Digital games tekken dark ressurection.
@Salt_AU the only way to access your ps3 download library is through the store though, that is the concerning part.
Though we need to see the official response to these rumours really.
I really hope they at least leave the ability to redownload our purchased games. That would be a bad move on Sony if they take that away. I still regular play ps3 and Vita. Actually just purchased 3 games last week for them. RE Directors Cut, MGS 2 and Silent Hill Origins. There's several more I'd like to pick up as well. Really hope this isn't true
@joey302 i feel the same man, i've must have spent thousands over the years using ps3, now i have to face the fact that i could loose that all!
I....don't get how this is a bad move. All three of these consoles have been obsolete for years now, with a combined player base that's probably dropped to a few dozen at best. At this point, there's really no point in Sony continuing to breath life into what is basically a dead corpse, even if the Vita gets the occasional obscure indie title, because at this stage it's just not worth it.
@FullMetalWesker your argument seems to be “I don’t use it therefore it is obsolete”.
There are a lot of fans who still play their PS3, Vita or PSP. I’ve still got all 3 and play each from time to time. There are a lot of retro gamers, collectors and people passionate about video game preservation who don’t want to see whole generations disappear.
Just because YOU don’t have an interest certainly doesn’t make them “obsolete”
@Mostik Switch lite would solve that problem.
The Wii shop shut down. I guess it was inevitable the PS3 would too. Sad to see it go. Lots of good titles on there. The downsides of the all digital future everyone wanted so badly. 😔
@themightyant - "your argument seems to be “I don’t use it therefore it is obsolete”."
Where did you get that from? I specifically stated "with a combined player base that's probably dropped to a few dozen at best" How is that in any way related to my personal habits?
"There are a lot of fans who still play their PS3, Vita or PSP. I’ve still got all 3 and play each from time to time"
Are there though? There's a difference between someone who occasionally turns it on for nostalgia, or to play the titles they already have, and someone who still uses it as their active console and is still buying stuff from the store. It's only the latter that would be affected by something like this, and when the consoles in question are: A 15 year old handheld, a 13 year old console, and an 8 year handheld that never sold to begin with, how many do you really think are still buying digital titles for these systems?
"There are a lot of retro gamers, collectors and people passionate about video game preservation who don’t want to see whole generations disappear."
*sigh * Except the thing is, there are other, better ways to go about game preservation then keeping an obsolete console's store on life-support. Microsoft's backwards compatibility program, Steam and GoG's single store libraries, even Nintendo's Switch Online service (though the defunct Virtual Console had a larger library). These all allow older titles to be played on systems most people are actually likely to play, which, unless I'm mistaken, is the whole point of preservation. Saying these old stores are good for preservation is like saying VHS tapes are good for preserving Films or TV shows.
"Just because YOU don’t have an interest certainly doesn’t make them “obsolete”"
Again, where are you getting the idea that I'm basing the idea off of my personal gaming habits? I called them obsolete because the consoles aren't being sold anymore, they haven't for years. Heck, the PS3 has been superseded not once, but twice. And the Vita wasn't popular even when it was being manufactured, so why would anyone start caring now?
@get2sammyb Your last point is the real concern - since the worse Store plopped into existance, we can't access PS3 or Vita games via a PC so we can only use the native apps on the PS3 or Vita.
If they stop working (at least in some capacity, a bit like the PSP's) we might very well not be able to access anything to re-download or importantly download to patch.
Given Sony couldn't be bothered to update the Vita's store until recently, I can't say I'm confident about what happens next.
A good compromise would be to add a Retro page onto the horrid Store and then just tie that into the user's purchase history (they already know what devices and games we have) and allow them to download PSP & Vita titles to a PC. Not sure what would happen to a PS3 though?
Oh well, I've backed up my Vita on my PC and have over half a dozen retail game cards!
@FullMetalWesker it's also a debate regarding consumer rights. Just because someone isn't using something they have paid for at the moment, it shouldn't give a company the right to take it away.
I haven't booted up my dreamcast for years, but I'd still be annoyed if someone burgled me and stole all my games.
There really needs to be a debate regarding what responsibilities companies are taking on when they sell digital products to the public. It's really not on that they can just be ripped away when it no longer suits them.
@Balosi - If this were a situation where they were taking away an individual's digital software library, then sure, there'd be an issue there, but we're not talking about removing purchased titles, we're talking about removing the ability to make further purchases on long-superseded hardware (To use your example, it's less someone breaking into your house and stealing your games, and more the local video game shop no longer stocking games for a console two generations old).
@FullMetalWesker that's unknown as yet. I personally cannot see how they can take the store away without taking your ability to download purchased stuff away too, they are tied together. You have to navigate through the store to reach your download list.
They are just going to turn off purchases? Seems a bit pointless if the store is remaining to let people access downloads. They may as well leave purchasing on, even if its not selling much.
Hopefully isn't true or else the PS5 Digital just seem even more like a bad product
@huyi you think you own these games but you really don’t when they do this sort of thing. While I own over 550 physical PS3 games and thank goodness for that, I still bought so many PS3 digital games over the years that my 250G slim doesn’t even hold em all. I have a white 500G brand new that I never set up as I was preserving it in case my 60G FAT fully BC PS3 or my PS3 slim dies on me. But maybe now with this announcement I should hook it up now and redownload as many digital games as I can possibly fit lol. Thanks for nothing Sony!!
Slightly related and At the very least I was hoping that ps5 (which I don’t own yet but WILL get the disc based system) would be backwards compatible with PS3 Or at least psone & PS2 discs. But I knew PS3 BC wasn’t gonna happen which makes this announcement ever more painful! But just think if they figured out PS3 on PS5 and carried all your PS3 digital purchases forward this announcement would be a non issue & I’d pack up my PS3 system and make some needed space. Lol oh well
This is why I condone piracy.
On a side note, I wonder if this will have any implications to the update/patch servers for physical PS3 & Vita games. Many games have multiple patches and if these have not been installed you’ll only be stuck with vanilla code for physicals in future if these servers are also switched off. Many games would be worse off as a result, GT6 instantly springs to mind.
Also there’s trophies. I would hazard a guess that trophies for PS3 games would remain due to PS3 games being on PS Now, the system would need to stay active for those games. But what about trophies for vita games?
@OrigamiCrane This is why I have over 800 boxed games in my flat.
If it's MEGA cheap or digital only, I'll buy it. But generally if possible I will avoid digital.
@rjc-32 Take it from a software engineer.
The trophy syncing is just that "Syncing".
The trophies are earned and handled through the games themselves and the OS, then information synced through Sony's endpoints. Realistically, seeing as all trophy lists are integrated. I would hazard a guess that Trophies won't be affected as it isn't a seperate system for each platform, but the same system being used for each. Proof of this is the recent trophy level changes that applied, without system updates, to PSVita, PS3, PS4, and PS5 at the exact same time.
This is why physical is king.
@deathgaze738 Thanks for sharing that info, that’s good news on that front at least. I still worry about updates and patches though, I’m guessing those servers could also be pulled...
@rjc-32 That is a different story. I'm pretty sure devs have to submit their updates to Sony for review, and Sony handles the distribution. So I think they COULD switch that off at any point.
IDK how many people are still buying games on those platforms but hoping people can still download games they own after the proposed shutdown. I would also ask what happens to game updates should you insert a physical copy of a PS3 game. Will it check for updates?
@deathgaze738 Yeah that’s the worry. Some games, GT6 for example, are massively different on the latest patch when compared with vanilla code. In years to come you may never be able to access many features if you wanted to go back and replay/play for first time as retro etc.
As soon as consoles become all-digital I will no longer buy new platforms. There will be a lifetime of games already available. I’m thinking only Nintendo will continue with physical at the next generation.
@Netret0120 even physical games aren’t what they used to be, with all the patches and updates, of which said servers could be pulled in future. Some games even require half of the game to be downloaded, with only a portion on the disc/cartridge.
@rjc-32 Indeed. I'm with you there.
Partially the reason I stopped playing PC. (The other half is that 90% of matches are plagued with hackers)
To be fair, if I recall you can load software updates through other sources. If they just released the update files that you need to download and stick on a USB, that'd be something.
This is terrible news, guess I need to start buying up the remainder of my wishlist games.
@FullMetalWesker You make some fair points about game preservation.
I agree back compatibility would be amazing, but Sony aren't doing that. Also agree that Nintendo Switch Online & remasters etc. are important as part of game preservation... but so is playing the original game on the original device, not a port or a remaster. Not least the full library is never available on these services, while there is some chuff that could disappear there are plenty of great games that will just disappear. That's a shame.
Imagine saying half the movies from Paramount 2000-2010 were just going to disappear, everyone would say it's madness. Yet gaming seems happy to let it's past go.
"Again, where are you getting the idea that I'm basing the idea off of my personal gaming habits?"
I was basing it on your statement "All three of these consoles have been obsolete for years now, with a combined player base that's probably dropped to a few dozen at best." I was pushing back against both your statement that they are obsolete, they aren't to many, AND your statement that the combined player base is a few dozen at best. I personally know more people than that who still play their NES/SNES/Gameboy/PSP/Vita etc.
I just think it's sad that Sony doesn't seem to care about their history unless they can heavily monetise it.
@themightyant - "but so is playing the original game on the original device, not a port or a remaster."
(not sure what's wrong with a port or remaster but...) Maybe, but outside of a dedicated interactive museum piece (which is probably not that great an idea at the moment), I don't see how realistic a proposition that is.
"Imagine saying half the movies from Paramount 2000-2010 were just going to disappear, everyone would say it's madness. Yet gaming seems happy to let it's past go."
Not sure how that comparison works. Movies are kept alive through re-release on newer formats (DVD to Blu-Ray, to 4K UHD) on digital storefronts (like iTunes), and streaming services (like Netflix). All three methods are also done with video games; Remasters bring them to newer formats, Steam and GoG serve as digital storefronts, and with things like Xbox Game Pass (and I guess PS Now, though that's only available in a few countries atm) we now have a streaming service of sorts. The only difference is that with video games, you have an orderly progression from one console generation to the next, whereas with home video, it's a much messier arrangement which leads to the current situation where you have DVD's, Blu-Rays, and 4K UHD's being available at the same time (part of which is due to the fact that the only difference between a DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K UHD is resolution, something that isn't the case with video games).
"I was pushing back against both your statement that they are obsolete, they aren't to many, AND your statement that the combined player base is a few dozen at best."
And your pushback includes making it out as if I was making a statement purely on my personal gaming habits when that was clearly not the case? If you believed I was mistaken, why not just say so?
"I personally know more people than that who still play their NES/SNES/Gameboy/PSP/Vita etc."
Since I'm going to repeat myself, I'll just insert the quote from the previous post: "There's a difference between someone who occasionally turns it on for nostalgia, or to play the titles they already have, and someone who still uses it as their active console and is still buying stuff from the store."
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