PS3, PS Vita, and PSP stores to close permanently in July and August

Started by Jmanghan3 pages
Jmanghan Senior Member

PS3, PS Vita, and PSP stores to close permanently in July and August

https://www.thegamer.com/ps3-vita-psp-stores-permanently-closed/

https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/03/22/ps3-ps-vita-and-psp-stores-are-closing-permanently-this-year-according-to-new-report

https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/sony-reportedly-closing-ps3-psp-and-vita-stores-in-july-2905529

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/03/ps3_ps_vita_and_psp_online_stores_to_close_this_summer_says_new_report

https://www.cbr.com/playstation-ps3-psp-ps-vita-stores-closing/

This sucks. This sucks really really bad.

Hopefully the download list still works, cause if not I'm gonna be royally ****ing p-i-s-s-e-d.

Kazenji Onyx Prime

No one seems to give a **** about game preservation, Other then Microsoft these days

and the other game companies love to ***** about being against emulation, Well they're not giving us much other choices.

Ridley_Prime Smug icon slayer
Nemesis X Cynical Tyrant

I've said for awhile Sony's been going crazy. This news doesn't surprise me.

Kazenji Onyx Prime

PSP Go is gonna be dead after this, Same thing with the PS5 digital edition in 10+ years if they decide to do the same thing.

Khazra Reborn Champion of Midgard

This is your semi-annual reminder to only buy physical games. Digital shit can be taken from you, at any time, and with no explanation.

Smasandian Smell the Ashes

You are still able to download purchased titles.

Jmanghan Senior Member

Originally posted by Smasandian
You are still able to download purchased titles.
Is this confirmed?

Khazra Reborn Champion of Midgard
Originally posted by Smasandian
You are still able to download purchased titles.

https://hackaday.com/2021/03/23/digital-playstation-3-purchases-may-only-live-as-long-as-your-pram-battery-without-sony-servers/

StyleTime Senior Member

Originally posted by Khazra Reborn
This is your semi-annual reminder to only buy physical games. Digital shit can be taken from you, at any time, and with no explanation.

Or buy digital from a platform that allows you to own the game.

That said, it mostly only happens with old games. Which you can emulate. I really don't understand the technophobia around digital games.

Kazenji Onyx Prime
Originally posted by StyleTime
. I really don't understand the technophobia around digital games.

Maybe its over digital licenses that can suddenly end, Making the games lost forever

Or buy digital from a platform that allows you to own the game.

That's why i also buy from GOG, You own what you buy from there whereas with Steam there's still a form of DRM with it.

Jmanghan Senior Member

Originally posted by Khazra Reborn
https://hackaday.com/2021/03/23/digital-playstation-3-purchases-may-only-live-as-long-as-your-pram-battery-without-sony-servers/
I mean, to be fair, the PSP store has been down for years, and they only very very recently stopped the ability to purchase stuff from the store itself, let-alone download stuff.

Jmanghan Senior Member

Originally posted by StyleTime
I really don't understand the technophobia around digital games.
I don't wanna lose the hundreds, nay... thousands of dollars I spent on said digital store.

I don't wanna emulate, I wanna enjoy it the way it was meant to be played. I ****ing HATE having to emulate games.

Jmanghan Senior Member

Also, David Jaffe, the person behind the "God of War" and "Twisted Metal" series', made a video in defense of this:

YouTube video

Kazenji Onyx Prime
Originally posted by Khazra Reborn
This is your semi-annual reminder to only buy physical games. Digital shit can be taken from you, at any time, and with no explanation.

Kinda hard to do with Game DLC.

Smasandian Smell the Ashes

Originally posted by Kazenji
Maybe its over digital licenses that can suddenly end, Making the games lost forever

That's why i also buy from GOG, You own what you buy from there whereas with Steam there's still a form of DRM with it.

When has this happened?

My understanding is that every legitimate store allows you to download the titles you own...even if the license retires from that specific store.

Jmanghan Senior Member

Originally posted by Smasandian
When has this happened?

My understanding is that every legitimate store allows you to download the titles you own...even if the license retires from that specific store.

Nope.

For example, particularly on PSP and Vita (which is how I prefer to play PS1 Classics), Final Fantasy VII is no longer playable on there because of expiring licenses.

To be fair that's the only one I know from personal experience.

StyleTime Senior Member

Originally posted by Kazenji
Maybe its over digital licenses that can suddenly end, Making the games lost forever

That's why i also buy from GOG, You own what you buy from there whereas with Steam there's still a form of DRM with it.


As I said when cdtm went full boomer about this, that's some doomsday scenario that doesn't really happen. Let's make no mistake here: these are all 16 year old systems. Nothing "sudden" is happening here. If people were purchasing these games in any meaningful numbers, the stores wouldn't be closing. It seems people are upset that a storefront for games they no longer play is shutting down. It's just....strange. I think this need to own things is overstated anyway, as people aren't realistically touching their old games often. Even then, you still have the option to just emulate, and repurchasing select titles won't be expensive if you really need to play something again. Some are already available on PS4 store too.

I agree about GOG though. And even Steam has some DRM free games. I think the bigger issue here is about outdated DRM practices.

StyleTime Senior Member

Originally posted by Jmanghan
I don't wanna lose the hundreds, nay... thousands of dollars I spent on said digital store.

I don't wanna emulate, I wanna enjoy it the way it was meant to be played. I ****ing HATE having to emulate games.


I sympathize somewhat with that in the case of PSP era stuff, but I'm not sure you're "losing" the money much more than with hard copies.

You can just emulate from your Vita if you really want to keep the form of the Vita...

And you already emulate games and don't realize it, as that's how PSP was playing PS1 games anyway. It used an in built emulator. Same for PS4 when unlocking the original Medeival in the remake, or playing some PSP ports. PS4 will likely become a premiere emulation device once PS5 full takes over.

Jmanghan Senior Member

Originally posted by StyleTime
I sympathize somewhat with that in the case of PSP era stuff, but I'm not sure you're "losing" the money much more than with hard copies.

You can just emulate from your Vita if you really want to keep the form of the Vita...

And you already emulate games and don't realize it, as that's how PSP was playing PS1 games anyway. It used an in built emulator. Same for PS4 when unlocking the original Medeival in the remake, or playing some PSP ports. PS4 will likely become a premiere emulation device once PS5 full takes over.

Hard copies are the difference between 20-30 years and 5-10 years on digital. There's plenty of games I don't own.

It's heavily dependent how careful you are with your games. I'm immaculate with mine, I spend a lot of money on my PSP games.

Also, there are still plenty of games I need to buy, Breath of Fire III and IV, Suikoden 1, Grandia, tons of PS1 and PSP games alike.

There are some PSP games that cost a LOT of money, and now if I want to play them without being a dirty pirate I'll have to shell out tens, sometimes $100+ dollars for a single game.

Ys I & II can reach $300+. Most of the Ys games are commonly found at $150+.

Geez, sorry I can't pay hundreds of dollars for just one game, thank god I bought them on the store before all this kicked off.