Sony has discreetly shut down access to an old PlayStation Store website with digital downloads of games for the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita devices. Rumors began spreading about a week ago that Sony might be shutting down PS3, PSP, and PS Vita stores, though Sony has yet to announce anything officially. If the rumors are true, it means that gamers will no longer be able to digitally download games for any of those devices starting sometime in July. Although Sony had yet to take any actions to provide plausibility to the rumor, this old site shutdown might be an ominous indicator of what is to come.
The potential PlayStation Store shutdown will affect more than just PS3, PSP, and PS Vita titles though. Any games in the PlayStation Classics collection that aren’t legally available to download anywhere else will affected. That mean that rare PS1 classics like Castlevania Chronicles and Mega Man Legends 2 will be completely inaccessible unless gamers can somehow find a physical copy. Many gamers are worried that a large library of PlayStation games will be lost forever and that obtaining these games legally will cost much more than before.
In October of last year, Sony made big changes to the PlayStation Store for web and mobile versions that made it impossible for players to access PS3, PSP, and PS Vita storefronts unless they were accessed from one of the devices directly. Sony also made apps, themes, and avatars for those devices unavailable after certain dates. However, some PlayStation fans were still able to access the website store through a region-specific URL and continue to make purchases for the restricted devices. Sony apparently shut down that URL over the weekend, which now redirects customers to Sony’s new PlayStation Store.
Sony’s new store only has game and DLC content for the PS4 and PS5 consoles, which means there are now even fewer avenues to access digital versions of older PlayStation games. Fans can still download games from older devices if they happen to have one of those devices handy, but it’s likely a frustratingly slow process. If Sony continues with these store removals, the titles with the most to lose are digital-only games for the PSP, PS Vita, or other consoles.
Unfortunately, the PlayStation Store shutdowns are just another reminder of the struggle gamers face in a market increasingly focused on digital media. The downside of digital media means even games that players purchase they may not own forever, and with subscription services like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass pushing for players to experience a wide variety of games digitally, it might make gamers wonder what their money is truly getting them.
Source: ResetEra
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