What happens to the games ?

[Alhlan Ain Ajeeba]

Even though ive never had a ps3,and jumped straight to ps4,I have to ask. What happens to all the downloaded ps3 games one has once the ps3 servers shut down for good,do they get to keep them? What about games in their library,but not downloaded? Same question for ps4 ,what happens to those games?

[dyne]

Nobody knows. Some are of the magical opinion the servers/hosting will never get shut down. Some say SONY may offer permanent unlock tokens as long as you download games before they’re shut off. This is what Valve has been rumored to do should Steam ever go under. Some will say "you've had over a dozen years with your rentals, who cares?" While others still will say "I never go back to old games."

[MOONPHASE]

PS3 has a Download List that is seperate from the PSN Store and PS4 has the Library that keeps track of every game and DLC you bought. My guess would be like you can just access your games and DLC from there that you purchased already instead of the PSN Store, but if you didn't already own the game or DLC you wanted before it shuts down then there is just nothing you can do about it.

PSN won't likely go down.

[Member-115369]

I’d just assume you’ll eventually lose access to anything you don’t have downloaded to a working PS3.

Just the way it is with console games and why I’m a bit reluctant to buy much digitally there. PC is a better option for that. Valve has promised to remove DRM and let people download what they want for sometime if they ever had to go out of business. IDK that I trust that, but there’s always the option to strip DRM and back up yourself.

Honestly though, I replay games so rarely anymore (bought an SNES Classic and have barely touched it), rarely rewatch movies etc. so I’m realizing more and more that it’s a moot point for me. Incentive of buying physical is 20% Best Buy Gamer's Club Unlocked discount and being able to sell off (not trade in and get ripped off) after I'm done to keep costs down.

[Derb]

I also have a few PS3 games that are digital only which Sony either remastered for PS4 or put some on PS Now. Unfortunately, those digital games I own will not likely ever be playable on PS4. So I’d keep a PS3 for future sake. As for PSN shutting down.. I wouldn’t worry about that as digital distribution is doing better then ever.

[Eidolon]

has there been anything said about the servers being shut down? I know Nintendo are completely pulling the plug on the WiiShop early next year and games will no longer be (re)downloadable as a result, but Nintendo do things in a somewhat different way.

There ought to be a law protecting digital purchases really. If you've bought it digitally, you should always be able to download it, no matter how far into the future. With the PS3, there are people who also have PS+ games, and will be continuing to pay for PS+, as such the games should be available for a considerable time at least, based on that.

But these are simply storage servers, not busy multi-player ones. There's no reason why the older games can't be stored by Sony, they're hardly going to take up a lot of space for them, and the reduced traffic from occasional downloads in the future won't push their bandwidth at all.

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by Armchair NZ

not really a problem for me. I buy every single game on disc. No physical release, no purchase.


... which does mean I've missed out on a few games I'd really like to have played. Hellblade and Snake Pass in particular, now probably Ghost of a Tale as well.

Also, it is worrying with games like Driveclub where so much of the best stuff in the game came from downloaded patches, updates and DLC. I just have to back everything up onto a second hard drive and hope that that'll be enough. If something happens to destroy both sets of saves after all the servers have gone offline I'm going to be mighty upset...

that's a somehwat simplistic look at things. Take Star Trek Bridge Crew for example, its had a considerable number of updates since release. Just running it off disc with no access to the updates means losing out. And it's hardly the only game to do that.
I prefer physical media where possible, but Ihave a number of smaller download only games that I really enjoy (Istill play Outrun on the ps3 for example), that I'd never have if I stuck to discs.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Armchair NZ

^^ yep, like I said: two major downsides to only buying physical. Games that have a ton of updates, patches etc; and missing out on some of the smaller games that don't get disc releases.

but hey, at least for the ones I do buy I have cases and discs and (sometimes) manuals to look at, that has to count for something

I like looking at cases on my shelves.

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by Armchair NZ

but hey, at least for the ones I do buy I have cases and discs and (sometimes) manuals to look at, that has to count for something

I dont think a single one of my PS4 games has a manual. It's something that really irritiates me about modern releases. I dont exactly have the best memory in the world anymore, and often wont play something for a few months. Coming back t something and not having a manual to refer to quickly doesn't help.

[Member-115369]

I used to be all about the physical media—now my DVDs in binders with inserts and cases recycled, CDs in binders with liner notes and cases tossed. Still have a rack of Blurays, but have super slowed down my buying.

I just rarely revisit anything any more and physical media collections are a huge pain in the ass when space is tight and when you move every few years. Make more sense for homebodies with a lot of freetime that revisit things often and those that are settled down and don’t plan on moving from their current home anytime soon (or ever) I guess.

[Zivouhr]

With Witcher 3, which I have on disc for PS4, the regular game's camera wobbles over every little bump on the ground as Geralt walks, so it's a game that makes me feel a little bit dizzy from the unstable camera (as with some of GTAV). Only after downloading the 7.5 GB massive update to Witcher 3, did I discover the option to shut off the camera's wobbling motion and actually have a smooth camera as with Watchdogs 1.

The game is so much more enjoyable now over such a subtle difference, but proof that patches are today's reason to not completely fine tune a game and release it as is.

Star Wars Galaxies Shut Down - YouTube

If the hard drive ever broke or erased, I'd lose that option 20 years from now when the PSN servers for that update are probably long gone, as with the old Star Wars Galaxies, which was an online only game that is no longer playable from the retail version, since the servers are gone.

But yes, if you have a digital only game on PS3, best not to reset the hardware or erase the game if it can be helped if/when the servers eventually are gone for the PS3 PSN store.

[partridge]

As Sony have done with the announcement about dropping PS3 monthly games, they would need to give gamers a good amount of notice if they were to remove the means of you downloading a digital game you've paid for. That gives you the opportunity to download it and keep it on the machine.

But this is why many gamers still prefer disc. You simply don't know what the lifespan of your digital purchases is! That goes for film and TV too. All of this is too young to really understand the mid to long term future of digital purchases.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by Armchair NZ

(either way, strongly recommend getting the GOTY just to have all the DLC on disc)

Now you mention that, I’m genuinely curious...

Does the GOTY have 2 discs?

The Witcher 3 file with all DLC would be above 50GB. How about Gran Turismo Sport? 2 discs?

[Trailbreaker77]

My PS3 hard disc is almost completely full of games and it's a 500GB drive I believe, however everything is on there so I should be fine unless the Hard Drive fails.

My PS4 has a 2TB drive in it and I'm looking to buy a 4TB external because I've almost gone 100% digital. I only have disc copies of games from a few family members that buy me a game during the holiday's which I don't ask for so it's rare.

I'm not really concerned about being digital only, I'm sure Sony has put some thought into how it will all play out.

[Eidolon]

well, i was having a go on Super Stardust HD on my PS3 last night, and there was no option to buy/download the DLC anymore. Shame, I really like this game.

I play OUtrun a lot on my PS3, that's gone from the store, but can still be downloaded by those who have purchased it. I expect that's the same for everything at this point.

[Trailbreaker77]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

So you think Sony has plans to support their products long after they become unprofitable, unlike every other company in history?

The games will be on my hard drive, sure the online portions will not work once the servers are shut down but I'm not a big online player anyways.

Not sure I understand your question?

[dyne]

Originally Posted by Trailbreaker77

The games will be on my hard drive, sure the online portions will not work once the servers are shut down but I'm not a big online player anyways.

Not sure I understand your question?

People assume that the digital games on your HDD need to "phone home" as a security check in order to remain playable. If they discontinue hosting the images for download people also assume they won't be able to "phone home" anymore making the games unplayable.

[Member-115369]

Originally Posted by dyne

People assume that the digital games on your HDD need to "phone home" as a security check in order to remain playable. If they discontinue hosting the images for download people also assume they won't be able to "phone home" anymore making the games unplayable.

That’s only the case for PS+ Freebies, Games with Gold on Xbox etc. that require an active subscription to those services.

The real concern for bought digital console games is that consoles die and if the services are gone you won’t be able to even by a new (used) one and redownload them. Like with the Wii shop shutting down soon—someone’s Wii dies, they won’t be able to buy a new one and go redownload all their digital games anymore.

Where as physical games as long as you have a working disc/cart you can always buy a new (used) console and still play it. Granted you won’t be able to get any patches/updates if the servers are down.

PC is much better for preservation since there are DRM free options, relatively easy ways to strip DRM and back up games. Even if you lose your back ups, you can generally find a way to download another copy even if the store/servers are gone. It wouldn’t be strictly legal, but I see few moral qualms with “pirating” a game you own, lost your install and back up and have no option to rebuy/redownload in any storefront.

[Trailbreaker77]

Okay so this is a worst case scenario for digital is the PS* whatever has a massive failure and takes the console and hard drive with it. However it's 2021 and the PS store doesn't have that game stored away for download and it's not on the PS Now and I didn't make a backup of the hard drive so now I'm SOL. Is that what the question is?

My original point is why am I worried about something that far out? Who knows what other options that are currently not available now might be available then?

I don't think having a physical copy of a game solves all the "what if" scenarios for me either.

[Trailbreaker77]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

DRM ties all of your games to a single console. If that console dies your hard drive full of games won't work in another console.

I've had plenty of consoles die but with physical games I just bought another console and all of my games worked fine on the replacement. With digital games that won't be possible after official support is dropped.

I was told as long as your current console was set to primary your good. Plus I remember being able to play my PS3 digital games on two separate consoles before I got rid of my old fat PS3.

Who knows when the PS5 gets released maybe they'll be a way to transfer my PS4 games to that? Or maybe games will all be cloud based by then and you will only need a license to access them.

Honestly I don't really go back to consoles to play games anymore, my PS2 has been in the box for so many years I doubt it still works. I don't see that changing by the time the PS5 and PS6 come out I doubt I'll even care about the PS3 anymore. The physical PS3 discs I have won't be worth a dollar by then so for me personally I'd rather not have to deal with them.