Sony will reportedly shutter PlayStation Store on PS3, PSP, and Vita

Sony is reportedly shutting down the PlayStation Store on the PS3, PSP, and Vita this summer, according to a report from The Gamer.

The shops on the PSP and PS3 will shut their doors on July 2nd, while the Vita’s will be shuttered on August 27th. Customers will no longer be able to purchase digital copies of games for those systems after those dates. So far no word has been given on whether gamers will be able to re-download content they’ve already bought.

The has stirred up concerns within the fan community over the preservation of older games going forward. Sony has not ported many of these titles over to future hardware. Indeed, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has gone on record stating that he doesn’t see the value in it. Unfortunately, the store closures mean that many digital exclusives will no longer be accessible on current or original hardware. At least not through legitimate means. This policy contrasts sharply against rival Xbox, who has made many of its older games not only playable, but also purchasable, on the Xbox One and Series X/S.

Sony is certainly not the only company that has seen little point in preserving its history. Nintendo also came under fire for shuttering the eShop on the Wii and de-listing DSiware titles. Again leaving many games in the ether.

In their defense, maintaining servers is expensive. Especially when you’re only keeping them active for a handful of users. But there is a growing expectation today that games should be cross generational. Especially when digital purchases are involved. And in the case of Nintendo, we know they have reliable emulation for all their consoles up to the Wii. Sony meanwhile has been pushing their PS Now service to stream older games. However, most users report the experience has been less than desirable. Even then, the library is not what you’d call robust. Nor does it give you free access to games you’ve already purchased on past systems, unlike the Xbox.

It’s quite clear that Sony would rather focus on selling you newer, and more expensive, titles while ignoring their history. The question is whether enough PlayStation fans actually care about backwards compatibility. Given early PlayStation 5 sales, it would seem they don’t. However, the advantage the Xbox has in letting you take your entire library with you cross generation may win some over. At least it’s something that finally differentiates the Green Team from the Blue. But we would certainly like to see all video game companies take preservation of classic content seriously, in the same way the film industry does.

It is worth noting that if you don’t care about the morality of downloading what’s effectively abandonware, there are alternatives available. The PS3, PSP, and Vita have all been jailbroken to run unsigned code, and the hacks are fairly easy for a novice to implement. Not that we, ahem, endorse downloading ISOs, the option is there when no other is available. Jailbroken systems can also rip your physical copies to a hard drive or memory card. Adapters are available that let hacked PSPs and Vitas use standard MicroSDs.

Emulation is another route. PPSSPP offers a mature way to play PSP games at full speed on most PCs and newer Android devices. Both the PS1 and PS2 also have full speed emulators available. RPCS3 still has a long way to go before it can play most AAA titles at acceptable frame rates, but can run simpler PS3 games at full speed on a decent gaming PC. Unfortunately, there are no emulators for the Vita at the time of writing.