PS3, PS Vita Digital Stores to Close Starting Later This Year

Any more great news you want to share with us Sony? You want my firstborn while you are at it?

The EU need to come down on these digital stores like a tonne of bricks. Absolutely disgraceful, this is so anti-consumer what is happening and we all need to push back on this happening or else we”re going to have even more of our current and future games disappearing at a push of a button

God damn it. I buy vita games through ps3 store what a joke

It's the end of an era!

The news out of PlayStation really does just keep getting better and better today.
I can only assume they're trying to bury awful decisions with more awful decisions.
Why don't they increase the price of all PS+ subscriptions by £100+ while they're at it?

I am so over PlayStation and the eco system. I am out.

The problem I have is that on the day they are moving to digital, they announced the closure of old storefronts. So in the future, you will not be able to get games once the digital store shuts down because discs aren't going to be a thing. Sony recently made it so you can't access movies you paid for, so they are going to do this with games eventually as well. Modders who create homebrew for consoles are the only thing keeping these older games alive at this point.

They wanted to do this half a decade ago. Honestly, good on Sony for keeping the storefronts open this long. You can still buy games on the secondhand market.

They certainly gave up on even maintaining the PS3 store several years ago. It's to the point it is broken and the search function no longer works accurately as some games are still there but hidden. They could have probably still made somewhat of a decent profit of some of the games that remained locked to the system if they reduced the prices as some still remain at full price all these years later and they haven't had a sale on their in around 8 years.

Well we are just getting plenty of great news today aren't we?

It's things like this why I'm thinking of getting my Vita modded, I did the same with my 3DS when the store closed. Mainly because the cost of physical games sky rocketed, you were looking at £300 for Yo Kai watch 3.

Sounds like they will eventually also take away the ability to download games in your library even. It costs money to keep this stuff up so I can see why they want to get rid of it but still it's a shame.

I wish I could play my PS3 games on my PS5. So many good games, but I can't stomach that controller or console anymore.

Well, looks like I'm going on a PS1 spending spree!

Time to start clearing out my list of stuff to buy

I mean, I'm not surprised, but Sony just needs to make more of these games available on modern platforms. Like you shouldn't tell me that games like Tokyo Jungle deserve to languish in obscurity

It doesn't really matter when physical games are still an option, but going forward, future "retro" gaming will look a lot different. Without physical games, closure of the online stores turns it into an useless brick.

I understand you can still buy and play the games before they do so, but there's no option to buy additional games after a specific timepoint then.

Well, it was a good run. The PS3 store has been in shambles for a good while now, with filters that limit the scope of what's actually available, and some digital exclusives getting quietly delisted. At least it outlived the Wii and 360 stores 🥲

Seems like very weird messaging to be closing digital storefronts at the same time they are saying the next console will be entirely digital. Essentially saying you'll never have guaranteed access to anything in the future.

My guess is this is a security thing rather than a cost cutting exercise. I'd rather they stayed open but it is what it is, the real anger will come if/when they deny access to download previously purchased games.

Oh another 'great' news from Sony and how ironic after they decided to go full digital too.

So in one day we see Sony going digital, and they’re closing two digital stores?

Man… that’s a choice

ps3 and psvita are amazing with custom firmware, if the systems are not supported i see nothing bad in installing cfw and going to town with roms and downloads.
i don`t condone piracy on current systems, but when support stops i see no problems.

Just more bad news after bad news. I love my Vita and PS3, so sad that Sony didn't get their act together and support the stores. Hard to be excited about PlayStation these days

To be honest it's probably time they closed the PS3 store by now they supported it longer than Microsoft did with the 360 store so no need for doom and gloom celebrate what it was and how long it lasted I think!
To much negativity around gaming these days I say no!
Change the perspective and be positive it's a hobby not to stress about!

@Mr-Cage The negativity is coming from a huge multi-national corporation who made $6.7 billion profit in the last fiscal year.

@GamingGod you have a whole year to still buy them from now till 2027 in july ( assuming you are eu or usa). so its not like they didn't give plenty of time lol.

@Bizzy they kept it open for 20 years and gave most people an entire year advance notice if they still plan on buying games. the ps3 store is super slow , i'm surprised they've kept it open this long tbh.

@Bizzy Fair enough but what's that got to do with this I don't get the connection?

honestly i'm not surprised the ps3 store was always the worst one and it was always really slow. but i'm pretty sure this is just for closing the store down and you can still download the games and play them.

“For the foreseeable future?”

But Sony is so short-sighted!

Guess they can't complain about hacking these consoles and pirating the games then.

Can we still earn trophies?

As long as the digital backlog is available I dont mind.
I occasionally like to turn on my PS3 and play some classics that should of been ported over by now

Sony largely abandoned the ps3 and vita after they originally decided to close the store front. It was technically kept online but from that date no ps3 or vita games have been offered on sale from that point forward. Sony has also been slowly removing various games and making lots of games impossible to find. Hoping for a final ps3 vita game but it's doubtful it will happen.

@Mr-Cage You were saying that people were acting negatively but the negativity started from Sony themselves. For a company that is making money hand over fist like that it seems very anti-consumer or we could say negative-consumer.

Sony seems very confident with the release of the PS6, these steps indicate.

It’s like Sony forgot about this and were reminded by Sacred Streaming this week…

@Rodimusprime13 did you expect them to have sales again? they kept it open so people could keep buying games , but its not like they have inventory to get rid of.

„Don’t worry, dear PS6 customers, you will be able to download your favourite games… Until when? Well, let yourselves be surprised!“

This will happen with the PS4/5 library one day also!

Sony shutting legacy stores even when Jim Ryan tried it on wasn't the issue. At that time the bigger issue was PS Players not being presented with any means to play the older games.

What did we get since? A lacklustre "Premium" with limited third & first party "classic" games more often "quirky" rather than genuine one time AAA classics, let alone the PS3 games still locked onto that ecosystem that Sony will never likely port having already shuttered the likes of Bluepoint....the disconnect of this management knows no bounds!🙄

Another short sighted decision. I'm beyond tired of soulless Sony suits ruining a great company.

Sony hasn't managed to emulate the PS3 at anything approaching a reasonable speed on the wheezing PS5 so the only PS3 option is to play discs with patches downloaded on a physical PS3 but I assume that goes away once the PS3 store closes?

Only option will be to make sure everything is patched up to the hilt and then back up the entire PS3....before going to buy a Switch 2.

So what happens to games like drakengard3 which was digital only in Europe.

Thanks Sony. Idiots.

@Bizzy I don't see how the money has anything to do with it.
Also I said there's too much negativity around gaming I didn't say anyone here or in particular was being negative.
It is what it is gaming has been moving towards an all digital future for a while the only shock is that Sony not Microsoft have definitive plans to faze them out as it stands.

“PS games will be digital only soon. No physical”

“We’re taking down the storefronts for older consoles, and you’ll only be able to access your current digital games on them for the foreseeable future”

Just another reason to stick with physical media and PC for digital.

@Mr-Cage Sorry, I thought you were saying that people's reactions here to the news was negative.
Like you say, it is what it is. However, that doesn't mean I am going to be here for it either. Good luck to you if you decide to stick with the eco system.

Full priced digital rentals are only the rest stop between Physical and Streaming. They are coming for your games next. Prepare for streaming only in the near future.

They're preparing the data centers now.

Enjoy the all digital future everyone. I hope you have your retro consoles

@Altaria_97 whens the last time you bought a ps3 game from the ps3 store?

@Bizzy No problem at all my friend.
To be honest I'm not even in the ecosystem as it is now dude haha 😂
Hopefully new laws will be introduced for digital games purchases with this being set in stone now to protect the consumer more.
More safe guards and ways to access your profile if god forbid something goes wrong.
Hopefully it will work out for the best.

@AndyKazama I had to import a region free copy of that physically years ago but the DLC is still an issue as that will be going away permanently too except for those lucky enough to jail break and do piracy on their systems and emulators. I agree with your point whole heartedly though. ***** this :/ Asuras Wrath DLC endings will be gone too, same for Metal Gear Rising DLC missions.

Assuming this isnt reverted like last time anyone have suggestions on games to pick up from the ps3 store before its shut down.

@Mr-Cage Hear! hear! 100% agree with your sentiment

@CrazyOldDave and we will be in the same position when PS4/PS5 games possibly not working on PS7/8 (we can't rule they'll move from x64 to a custom RISC chip.)

Now would have been the time for an emulation layer/ emulator app....

@GhostOkami i mean the obvious rachet and clank , killzone , resistance , infamous games , unless you already own those or can find used copies for cheap.

@AndyKazama i doubt they'll move on from amd they have a pretty good partership with them, and custom chips would be just not worth it at this point.

I hope they have big sale before it closes

@twitchtvpat Point is, don't get comfortable, because this means Sony can rug pull support for PS4/5 store and games at any point in the future.

@BusyOlf keep wasting money on infrastructure that only small minority still using u should be glad Sony keep it up how long they did it could be shut down years ago

@naruball u want them keep throwing money at a system no one willing playing no more lol please run a company watch your shareholders out u so far because u just wasting money on a product that not getting profits anymore

As long as the games purchased are still available i have no issue. I have bought most games digitally now.

@twitchtvpat I had hoped that they would continue to have sales on ps3 and vita games but after they originally decided to close the store all sales stopped. Would buy a few games if they were on sale, otherwise I don't see any point. Most of the decent vita games are way overpriced and barely worth buying. Still some of the remaining ps1 and ps2 games are worth buying.

Well living in Mexico I now only have 1 month to buy stuff before the store is permanently closed. I will buy the DLC for Asura's Wrath and Sonic Unleashed despite not owning those games yet.

I have all the games and DLC I wanted besides those, any last recommendations?

Worse case scenario I will use my USA account and now I may finally mod my console.

Also, hopefully we are able to redownload our old games for a long time, the DS and Wii shops closed on 2019 and we are still unable to re download our purchased games.

@twitchtvpat luckily got those physically.
Might pickup mgs rising from memory it was cheaper on the store than on disc from searching a while ago.
Probaly worth getting some ps one classics aswell.
Just a shame the store is crap to search on.

People on here lamenting that they "only have 1 month to buy stuff" need to remember that they've had THE PAST 20 YEARS (or however long the digital store has existed) TO "BUY STUFF" and if it was THAT important, it would have been purchased by now. Just saying.

So presumably by closing the store that removes access to downloads too? So for instance if you don't have the Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition physically, you can't then download your purchased dlc for the base edition?

Can they at least sort out the tab on the Vita store where you download games you are already licensed? The list is shared with PS3 and PS4 SKUs, so I have to scroll past a load of things that cannot even be downloaded to Vita and it takes forever to find the items that I want to install.
Is the Vita store even fully operational at the moment? The last few times I've tried to find anything on it on my Vita, there only seems to be a very limited selection of games that show up, even with searching for specific titles. Certainly nothing like the full catalogue seems to be shown. (Searching from the UK, btw.)

This isn't great news but I get it. It was always going to happen and it's hard to justify another extension.

Luckily both machines are easily hacked and Sony stopped caring what you did with either of them a few years ago. Take advantage of that.

@tangyzesty and they had a reminder 5 years ago.

It was a great run but it still hurts knowing how terrible Sony does at their job on preserving many of their games. If we actually had proper PS3 backward compatibility, this wouldn't be much of an issue.

@tangyzesty because not all of us have owned a PS3 since 2006, and not all of those games were released on 2006, also people discover games they like or grab their attention years later.

Why there is always people like you complaining that people don’t like when stuff is taken away from us?

I hate to see it go because I still play my PS3 till this day, but as long as I can download my games and upload my trophies, you wint get an uproar from me about the store.

@GhostOkami yeah the ps3 store is awful.

This here is why I don’t trust Sony with an all digital future.

Xbox was not perfect with their 360 closure, but at least they tried to move ownership and future purchase options to the modern Xbox store.

If Sony wanted to do right by digital consumers, they would integrate the SKUs into their PS4/5/6 store so they can continue to be bought that way. EVEN if the game ends only playable on a Vita.

@Krlozgod well you still have a whole year to buy them if you actually want them.

With all of the terrible news coming out of XBOX recently, it's nice for PlayStation to cheer me up with some brighter news. 😂

Next up, Microsoft will announce they're going to steal all of my clothes while Sony punches my Mum.

Sony should be forced to fix Vita's "purchase history" store listing before they start closing anything down. It's desperately needed search, sorting and filtering options for 15 years now, and clogged up with useless PS3 and PS4 games and DLCs.

@twitchtvpat I live in Mexico so sadly I only have one month. I could use my USA account but it is already annoying adding funds to buy games on PS3, and I would have to get a code for the funds.

Got about 20 games i need to buy for vita before the store closes!

@twitchtvpat Years. But it’s the “players will still be able to download previously purchased content after the closing date for the foreseeable future” that’s concerning. They can rip your games away from you at any point. Gotta read the full comment.

welp I guess my BF purchases will shift to PS3/Vita. I mostly want retro games. Pretty sure I have bought the vita and PS3 games that I want. (But I will go through my collection to be sure.) I’m not bothered in particular, it is just my PS3 has been in a box for the past 3 years due to various reasons so I know I am not as caught up as I like to be. I guess I will upgrade my HDD as well.

Yikes, between this, the digital movies, and now the digital only PS6 announcement, this is a brutal 1-2-3 punch from Sony lately.

And I’m in a tricky spot opinion wise. In an ideal world, these stores would be open forever, yes. And it’s selfish of me or anyone else who says “well these stores are decades old now, it’s time” to not consider younger gamers (I died a little inside saying that), retro gamers, people coming over from Xbox for the first time, etc. I know people on discord who are 18-22 or former Xbox people and just getting into PS gaming and going back to play TONS of PS3 games. So like, yeah, I GET IT from Sony’s perspective, but it’s still not going to go over well with everyone.

So I can’t say I’m furious with Sony, but I still think it sucks no matter what. People are understandably gonna be pissed. There will be petitions, but idk at this point what you do. I just hope they find a way to keep fans happy.

@Altaria_97 they removed 500 movies from people's movie collection without hesitation, don't think they won't do the same with people's digital games collection in the future.

The store on PS3 was so slow if anything they should have updated it back how it was when it was faster and easier to search and navigate.

There isn't much on the PS3 store anyway you search for games it brings them up but can't be bought, I'll be starting PS3 and PS4 disc collecting again next pay day I think. Last time I booted it up it had Farcry 4 for £50 when it's like £11 on PS4 through PS5

I never had a Vita, and was thinking of getting one in the future. This future does not exist anymore. Sad. While emulation of Vita and PS3 games is still a pipe dream.

@get2sammyb So force the customer to digital and you close the digital stores what a garbage company this is.

@freddquadros Just do it illegally if they don't want you to access why pay.

Well if you felt bad about modding your PS3 & PS Vita before Sony just told you to not feel bad and go right ahead 🤷🏻‍♀️

@JalapenoSpiceLife people keep going back to the moive thing which doesn't fit this at all , if it were the same it would be that sony would stop selling games on the their storefront for 5 years , then remove access to those games. i've seen plenty of games get delisted by i've never seen access to those games be revoked. even pt the tech demo was still playable if you had it downloaded on your console. you just couldn't redownload it.

@Altaria_97 even if they didn't let you redownload the games and took that away the games would still be playable if you have them downloaded. how often do you boot up your ps3 ( assuming you have one) and play it? i feel like people worry about this , but never play any ps3 games. honest question really.

Woaaaaaaah Sony, calm down cow boy, I just read the previous news where you said you were shutting down physical media

Good things there’s physical disks so we can still play games…..oh wait

So ps6 will be download only!!!
But they are closing down the ps3 and vite shop down!!
So suppose the ps4 and ps5 shop will close soon as well when the ps6 comes out
And then after that AI and streaming will be all there is!!!

@Mirage-5x5 the ps3 shop was going to close at some point its been 20 years , i can't imagine very many people actually buy ps3 from the store in 2026, and i highly doubt any one buys vita games as well. at least they gave a full year in advance for most places like Europe and the states , so it doesn't really give an excuse " well i didn't have time to purchase ps3 games from the store". i mean the ps3 store was still around when the ps5 has been around for almost 7 years , i doubt the ps5 store will be shutting down any time soon. lol

In other great news today sony announced 100% price increases on all digital games starting January 2028 when discs no longer exist.

Sony can kiss my hairy, sweaty ass.

I think there needs to be amendments to copywrite/piracy laws for all forms of media. If the copywrite holder does not make a item available for purchase in the format it was previously available in it is no longer a crime to pirate it, distribution or consumption.

The first silent hill game is about to be lost from legal purchases

@Nerodemon it is getting remade

The Vita still feels like a moder device somewhat. The 3ds feels old school.

A lot of good news from Sony today huh?

@twitchtvpat I have a lot of games on the PS Vita store but I’d like to not resort to piracy, especially with the console connected to my Ps account. I can’t fit a ton of game in my vitas memory card so yeah, u redownload a couple games or more from the store each year.

I didn’t mean to turn this into an argument. You’re fine to disagree with my opinion. I just think it’s worrying for long time fans. But I guess the seven seas exists for a reason.

@Altaria_97 nah you are good , i think if people always agreed on everything 100% of the time the world would be a boring place , people shouldn't take the fact that some one disagree's with them personal , i never take it personal. i need to plug my vita in myself haven't touched it in a few years. i can't remember i thought there was a way to download games on your pc or something you can redownload them.

The reaction to this seems a bit overblown. Physical copies for the PS3 and Vita are still out there, and our existing digital libraries remain available for download. Sony's broader strategy is clearly about maintaining a single, unified digital ecosystem.

The PS3's notorious architecture was a bottleneck that Sony corrected starting with the PS4. Now that they're on a standardized architecture, the current PlayStation Store is seamlessly transitioning into its third generation. It makes zero sense for Sony to abandon this foundation; launching a new console without a massive, backward compatible library is a thing of the past.

The industry is adopting the PC/Steam model, where your digital library simply moves forward with your hardware. I haven't bought a physical PS5 game yet, and this announcement doesn't change my plan to stay fully digital.

I just boot up my Vita and check the US store and i can't find plenty of games. I tried search Mega Man, RE, FF, MGS, Crash, Rayman, Ys, Persona etc and it only showed "there are no content items". Some still shows up in specific section so either the search function is broken or Sony already delisted a lot of games ahead of their schedule.

Oh well...RIP Vita store 🥀

Now i'm gonna check PS3 US & Asia store and see if the games still there or not.

For those wondering the PS4 store should because from PS4 on ward the PS store is unified for all future consoles. Basically put the PS6 will use the same store as PS4.

Welcome to the all digital future folks. You own nothing and will pay more.

@twitchtvpat well if they want us to go digitally then I expect them to keep the store open permanently
This is what they wanted not me

Nice of them to remind us that digital services end, just as they're demanding everyone give up anything but digital 'ownership'.

Galaxy brains in Sony HQ.

@Mirage-5x5 everything ends

I bought the last things I cared for (Ps1 games, Grandia III!) when they tried to close these stores down the first time lol.

Also: the same-era Wii Shop Channel closed on January 30, 2019