Just a few days ago, Sony confirmed its plans to shut down the PlayStation Store for PS Vita, PSP, and PS3. Starting in a few months during the summer period, Sony will be shutting down the store for those platforms. This means that gamers will no longer be able to buy games digitally on PS3, PS Vita, and PSP. While this might seem like a startling move for some gamers, it doesn't appear to be as bad as initially thought. While new games will no longer be purchasable on these platforms, gamers won't lose anything they already own.
While Sony celebrates huge success with PlayStation 5, some gamers have been worrying about access to their older titles. PlayStation hasn't made it publicly clear if it plans on supporting backward compatibility more robustly, though the PlayStation Now service has some legacy games available on it. Fortunately for some gamers who use these older Sony machines, the PlayStation store closure isn't all bad news.
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The upside to the closure of the store is that any purchased content can still be accessed. If a gamer has bought titles on the storefront for PlayStation 3, PS Vita, or PSP, these games will not be removed from anyone's library. This news is of great relief to those with comprehensive digital collections, knowing that they will still be accessible. While new games won't be purchasable anymore and in-game purchases will cease for PS3, Vita, and PSP, this confirmation is a silver lining with the PlayStation Store closure.
While some PlayStation 1 games will become trapped and unavailable to purchase after the store closure, purchased games are still going to be redeemable. Any titles a gamer has previously bought will still be accessible, even if they have been previously deleted from local storage. These games can be downloaded again from players' digital libraries without having to worry about losing access. This is sure to be good news to some gamers who might have previously feared the worst. Many of the games available on PlayStation 3, PSP, and Vita are considered classics in the modern industry, in addition to the PS1 titles available. It's good news for those who have purchased these titles previously.
While new purchases for games strictly made for PS3, PS Vita, and PSP won't be possible anymore, some games technically will be purchasable. The PlayStation 4 saw several cross-generational titles released, including many between PS4 and PS3, as well as PS4 and PS Vita. This means that PS4 games which are also usable on the other platforms could still be purchased and used on the legacy systems. Sony confirmed this news in an FAQ after the announcement of the store closure, which could be relieving for some gamers. While many games, especially PSP titles, will no longer be accessible in any way, this provides some recourse for gamers using legacy consoles who still want to experience different games.
While some gamers will see the legacy PlayStation Store closure as a wholly negative thing, there are plenty of reasons to remain optimistic. It's relieving to know that previously purchased content won't be affected and that in some way, gamers will still be able to buy new games to experience. Many fans have been hoping that Sony will commit to backward compatibility more in the future, and some are speculating that this could be the first step towards that. The PSP store functionality will end on July 2, 2021, as well as the PS3's, and Vita's access will end on August 27, 2021.
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