According to a report by online outlet TheGamer, we will soon have to bid farewell to PS3, PS Vita, and PSP online stores. The report reads that "according to a source familiar with the situation (verified by TheGamer), the stores are due to be closed down from July". According to this report, the stores for the PSP and PS3 are set to permanently shut down this July 2nd. The PS Vita store will close later, on August 27th. This means that digital copies of games and/or their DLCs on those platforms will no longer be available to purchase following those dates. TheGamer also writes that Sony plans to make the news official at the end of this month.

As usual, we should take such news with a pinch of salt as they come from "a source familiar with the situation" and haven't been verified by other outlets.

SOURCE

 

[GoldenBullet]

not even remotely the same, the early ps3 had very low hdd space so if you had one of those 60-80gb ps3 you would need to constantly delete games to make space for new games,so you had no other choice, even external hdds were preety damn expensive back then ,heck even with physical discs some game installs were brutal and you would run out of space very quickly so you had to delete the install and keeping only the save file to install more games.

the difference is with discs even ps4/ps5 discs when you finished the game and deleted the install to put other games in, you can always put the disc back in and let it install, if the psn for ps3 goes totaly down your preety much dead.

Also if you ps3 hdd burns or your console dies without a repair you are screwed since without psn you cant log in, so you cant redownload to another ps3 or even use your external hdd on another ps3 since they are console locked and the new console will format it, so you loose everything with discs you can just use it on any other console if yours totally dies or your hdd gets corrupted.

Yeah I understand that, that's why I said I knew it was an unpopular opinion. I have stacks of Xbox and PlayStation discs that I know I can't throw away because they can't be bought anymore. My opinion is more towards the future of gaming and the potential waste of relying on discs in future console generations. People should be glad that Microsoft has made windows so backwards compatible

 

[Codemastershock]

I think the store stays open for redownloads of our purchased games etc. like Nintendo handels it.Shut down completly would give Sony a bunch of lawsuits and the world of digital games a bad reputation.Don't know if the industrie needs that.

Wrong. On their terms of service they dont guarantee infinite support for the customer, and even then, Nintendo pulled this off with Wii purchases, you cant buy or redownload anything anymore legitimately unless it is the Skyward Sword Update Channel

 

[CeeDee]

I think the store stays open for redownloads of our purchased games etc. like Nintendo handels it.Shut down completly would give Sony a bunch of lawsuits and the world of digital games a bad reputation.Don't know if the industrie needs that.

Yeah, this is basically the case in every instance I've seen it - they stay open for redownloads of games you bought, and I believe patches stick around too, you just can't buy new stuff. Which isn't the worst thing in the world, though Vita closing this early is kinda lame.

 

[Kioku]

[Rumor] Memoir to take over as head of Sony of America. From reliable source.

Meh. Remember when a trusted source said we'd have a Switch Pro last year? Pepperidge farm remembers.

 

[Thorenx]

So the PKGJ on PS Vita will no longer work ?

 

[TastifulBurger]

I was just talking about this prospect when I asked about buying a CECHB and CECHA PS3!

Now I don't know how much longer Sony will keep updating the firmware or have online service active for it, but I am under the impression that once they shut down and the internet browser stops working with the ever-changing internet, there's not much to be done online with the consoles.

 

[CeeDee]

with Wii purchases, you cant buy or redownload anything anymore legitimately

Noooooope. You can still redownload purchased content for the time being. They mention them eventually turning that ability off in a rather vague "future" but you can still nab your old copy of Fluidity if you really want it.

 

[pedro702]

But at least, with physical, you can repurchase it from someone if your disk breaks.

But I think that shutting down the stores doesn't mean that you are locked out from your content. I believe I can still download my Wii games.

nope you can redownload your wii games lol just try it, even entering shop channel will just say its out of service so no you cant redownload your wii games at all, even if you purchased them.

I think the store stays open for redownloads of our purchased games etc. like Nintendo handels it.Shut down completly would give Sony a bunch of lawsuits and the world of digital games a bad reputation.Don't know if the industrie needs that.

well nintendo first said you couldnt buy games anymore and then after like 6 months the store was permanently down for the wii so you cant redownload it either if you had bought them before.

they have no obligation to keep stores running for ever, no company does it, once they discontinue a product there is no law that they need to maintain the online services.

wii was cut down you cant even redownload what you bough same for original xbox store.

with this it will be sony killing the ps3/psp/psvita and i bet xbox360 wont be too far away either, they will all say you can buy gamesa after day X and then afew months later the store goes completely dark and you cant even redownload purchases same as xbox/wii

 

[Codemastershock]

Noooooope. You can still redownload purchased content for the time being. They mention them eventually turning that ability off in a rather vague "future" but you can still nab your old copy of Fluidity if you really want it.

Not for everything I think. Tried to redownload some games and they werent appearing and Just Dance DLC simply the links are broken so it is impossible to download. At least on JD I managed to download these stuff some days later the closure by retrying multiple times, but when I tried to download again for some reason I dont remember anymore, no matter how many times I retried it would throw error messages without attempting to download.

 

[pedro702]

Noooooope. You can still redownload purchased content for the time being. They mention them eventually turning that ability off in a rather vague "future" but you can still nab your old copy of Fluidity if you really want it.

how? you cant acess the store anymore... once i click on wii shop channel i get a message of some kind and get booted back to menu, i cant see my purchases or redownload them at all, unless USA store is different from EU store.

 

[Codemastershock]

how? you cant acess the store anymore... once i click on wii shop channel i get a message of some kind and get booted back to menu, i cant see my purchases or redownload them at all, unless USA store is different from EU store.

on mine at least it only appears the Skyward Sword Update Channel as available to download inside the Channels "folder" and the payment history. Any other icon such as the library of purchased content, or the categories such as Virtual Console and Wiiware are missing.

 

[GABO1423]

how? you cant acess the store anymore... once i click on wii shop channel i get a message of some kind and get booted back to menu, i cant see my purchases or redownload them at all, unless USA store is different from EU store.

At least on my NTSC-U Wii U, when I boot up the vWii and go to the Wii Shop Channel with a working connection, all that shows up is an older version of the Wii Shop with almost everything delisted. But there is the Wii Transfer and Skyward Sword Fix channels that you can still download. Plus, if I go to see my previously purchased titles, I can download them no problem.

 

[fout21]

Okay, I bought a lot games digitally. For me this is the wake-up call. Nothing comes in digitally anymore. On the other hand, physical games these days are just as worthless. For PS3 those are at least full back-ups. Modern consoles can be considered just a way to prevent piracy since 90% of the game still has to be downloaded. This sucks balls and I don't understand why such big companies shut down legacy systems. The make so much money with PSN Plus why do this... THIS IS FOR THE PLAYERS

 

[RaniaAl]

Wrong. On their terms of service they dont guarantee infinite support for the customer, and even then, Nintendo pulled this off with Wii purchases, you cant buy or redownload anything anymore legitimately unless it is the Skyward Sword Update Channel

Really I always thought you could at least still download your purchases on Wiichannel?

 

[MeAndHax]

Umm but the PSP store is already shut down since years?

And would this affect other online functionalities?

3 months is kinda very little timespan to download and backup all the games - this is exactly why I would never go full digital..

 

[raxadian]

Well, we are on the PS5 now, the Vita and PS3 PS3 are discontinued and the PS4 and PS5 cannot play PS3 games and Vita games.

Is a shame but whatever.

 

[playstays_shun]

Do I have anything to worry about with ps3 PSN games not working? Only got a ps3 the other year, and the only digital I really think I even bought is MK Arkade Collection, the rest are used discs since I wanted to collect in general, but would very much like to keep that one.

Been intending to dig ti out actually, they're the most 'perfect - ish' arcade ports of the classics , on consoles, of all releases - right?

I did, however, buy quite a few Vita, PSP, and PS1 games on my Vita when I got one in 2019 tooo... do I have to worry about that?

Seems like sales for those games fizzled out last year so that should've been writing on the wall, but feels way too soon still

 

[CeeDee]

how? you cant acess the store anymore... once i click on wii shop channel i get a message of some kind and get booted back to menu, i cant see my purchases or redownload them at all, unless USA store is different from EU store.

That seems like a separate issue, because even in the discontinued state it's in, you should be able to access a store with no titles available for new downloads except for the Zelda update channel and, I believe, the Wii U transfer channel. From there, you can redownload previous purchases.

on mine at least it only appears the Skyward Sword Update Channel as available to download inside the Channels "folder" and the payment history. Any other icon such as the library of purchased content, or the categories such as Virtual Console and Wiiware are missing.

There's a "Titles You've Downloaded" icon on the main page, that should list any titles you've purchased and allow you to redownload them.

 

[cvskid]

Do I have anything to worry about with ps3 PSN games not working? Only got a ps3 the other year, and the only digital I really think I even bought is MK Arkade Collection, the rest are used discs since I wanted to collect in general, but would very much like to keep that one.

Been intending to dig ti out actually, they're the most 'perfect - ish' arcade ports of the classics , on consoles, of all releases - right?

I did, however, buy quite a few Vita, PSP, and PS1 games on my Vita when I got one in 2019 tooo... do I have to worry about that?

Seems like sales for those games fizzled out last year so that should've been writing on the wall, but feels way too soon still

If anything i am thinking mod your systems and make backups of your games and store them onto a pc.

 

[godreborn]

licenses aren't so bad. just drop the rap into a hex editor, and you'll get the 16 byte license easily. that's the way we've been archiving them without uploading the rap itself. you can get the content id, what the rap is named after, from pkg, self, sprx, edat, or param.sfo. it's very easy.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

to make a rif file (key plus encrypted stuff), you just need rap, act.dat, and idps. the only problem might be the act.dat, but I hear evilnat has found a way to make a fake, real one. reactpsn creates a fake one, but it requires a patch to the vsh.self so that it doesn't get deleted at next boot.