PS3, Vita, And PSP Stores To Be Permanently Closed

[Mavrick]

The PS3, PS Vita, and PlayStation Portable stores aren’t long for this world. According to a source familiar with the situation (verified by TheGamer), the stores are due to be closed down from July. The announcement is planned for the end of this month.

PSP’s and PS3’s stores are to be closed on July 2, while the PS Vita store will stay open until August 27. After those dates, you will no longer be able to purchase digital copies of games or DLC for any of the Sony consoles mentioned above.

https://www.thegamer.com/ps3-vita-ps...nently-closed/

[MOONPHASE]

So in other words, Sony is shutting down anything unrelated to PS5 proving that physical media will never die as long as companies are capable of doing things like this.

[khalbrae]

Will we be able to redownload things we already own? (Probably not) That such especially for limited/overpriced storage devices like the VITA

[Mavrick]

Nope, once it's gone it's gone apparently. This is one of the main reasons people still refuse to go digital. You never own it just licence it. Just make sure you have everything downloaded before the shut off date and prey you never have an HDD die between now and the rest of forever.

[animefan77]

This is horrible news to wake up to
If we can’t download games we already own, this is incredibly bad. I don’t have space anymore and still have tons of games I didn’t even start playing yet (lot of RPGs and action titles that takes tons of space)

I have been playing mostly PS4 and VR lately that I didn’t go back to PS3 in a while. But I still play my movies on my PS3 that’s not 4K and plan to play games when I get a chance.

Either we can still download games we already own or have PS5 get backward compatible with PS3 and we can download these games again, Sony just showed me to never trust them and avoid digital as much as possible.

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by khalbrae

Will we be able to redownload things we already own? (Probably not) That such especially for limited/overpriced storage devices like the VITA

Originally Posted by Mavrick

Nope, once it's gone it's gone apparently..

What is your source for this? There's nothing anywhere online amongst the reports to clarify this situation either way that I can find.
Remember that your owned downlaods can be accessed via purchases as well as the store. Even with the store itself gone, if they're still present online, they could perhaps be accessible that way.
Sony are completely shutting down thier online Movie store part of the PSStore shortly, yet they've confirmed that everything already purchased by the way of videos will remain playable for those who purchased them. So why wouldn't they do the same for games?

So what is the situation anyway here, looking at the worst case scenario? I have a lot of digitally purchased games that I've never even had a chance to start, a lot of which are PS+ games. If they get removed before I can even touch them, it's a lot of money down the drain essentially.
IS there any way to download the games, and then transfer the downloaded 'unpacked' files straight onto an external HDD for backup?

update - there's a post over at PushSquare relating to the PSP store. That has been closed for years, but on all account you can still download purchased games from it. If that's correct, that's a positive hint anyway. Fingers crossed we can still do the same here.
I was beyond irritated at Nintendo when they completely axed the Wii store with no option to redownload purchased games, it's one of the reasons why I'm not intending on buying another Nintendo beyond my WiiU. If Sony do the same thing, that's it too.

[Mavrick]

No official word from Sony. It would be a massive kick in the teeth if that were the case. I think so far it’s just a lot of people assuming the worst based on comments and other forum discussions I’ve seen

Like you say it wouldn’t be the first time a store has been shut down and all access to purchased digital content was lost. It all depends on if they keep the servers alive.

The closest Sony has come in recent memory is removing the PT Demo. Even if you had previously downloaded it you couldn’t redownload it if you ever deleted it.

It’s always a risk with digital. I don’t think there’s any legal obligation for the provider to let the buyer have access to that content indefinitely.

Until there’s official confirmation though it could go either way. Hopefully we can still access digital purchases from library I have a lot of PS+ titles in there. And digital demos that you can’t get like the early Gran Turismo demo on PS3.

Most of my full game collection is physical though I don’t think I ever purchased any digital content on PS3. I wonder if game patches and all that jazz will still be available.

[Talal86]

Killing the store is one thing, but losing access to the games we bought..

they should release a content manager so people can download and back up their digital games

[Eidolon]

I have a feeling they're going to leave purchased download content available to redownload based on the cases of the PSP and videos. However i'd rather not take the risk if possible. I generally try to stick to physical copies, but for things like Indie small games, PS+ content or patches/add-ons there's obviously no choice available.

My PS3 has only got an 80gb HDD, I could do with upgrading to a 1TB and downloading as much of the extra stuff as I can as possible but I'm not really sure how to go about it. Not everything online says the same about how to do it. It does look like everything from the HDD needs to be transferred to an external, then back onto the new bigger internal, and it takes ages :/

Originally Posted by Talal86

Killing the store is one thing, but losing access to the games we bought..

they should release a content manager so people can download and back up their digital games

In all fairness, something like ought to be in law by now. There's nothing in place anywhere to protect buyers of digital content, and it's long overdue there was. I'm still peeved at the loss of PlayStation Home, which I used to use all the time. Even when it closed down, they should have at least made some kind of downloadable variant in which we could run our purchased games and content. I used to play Salt Shooter, the games in the Tron Apartment, and the arcade games I bought all the time. Really miss Salt Shooter and SCribble Shooter.

[voltz]

People want this digital future with no protections in place...

I get rather peeved that we have to be treating non-physical content as if we're only granted "RIGHTS" to have access to it. There needs to be an understanding that once it's purchased, it needs to be by total ownership entirely, not a license.

[partridge]

I no longer have a PS3 in use, but from memory, isn't there a menu separate to the store which lists all of the content you've bought? Presumably that will still be there for you to download games (unless I've got that very wrong!)

Annoyingly this is another example of the games media getting hold of news before Sony make an official announcement to explain what the situation is with purchased content. Games media do love to scaremonger; Hey, we don't know the facts, but let's stir things up anyway.

From Sony's point of view, only they know what the usage levels are for the PS3, and if it's not making financial sense to maintain the PS3 store, then it's just good business practice to close it down.

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by partridge

I no longer have a PS3 in use, but from memory, isn't there a menu separate to the store which lists all of the content you've bought? Presumably that will still be there for you to download games (unless I've got that very wrong!)

Annoyingly this is another example of the games media getting hold of news before Sony make an official announcement to explain what the situation is with purchased content. Games media do love to scaremonger; Hey, we don't know the facts, but let's stir things up anyway.

From Sony's point of view, only they know what the usage levels are for the PS3, and if it's not making financial sense to maintain the PS3 store, then it's just good business practice to close it down.

They will still be in your downloads but if the server doesn’t exist anymore then you’ll never be able to download the games again.

Sony hasn’t confirmed either way.

[CrowKiller]

lol not only is Sony shitting on BC (other than PS4), but now trying to erase their console history. Yet these moron companies seem so confused why so many people use rom sites. Imagine if rom sites didn't exist. Most of the games of the past would be nothing more than a distant memory for most. I'm not a big bootlegger or anything, but if companies don't want your money or there's no way it can be officially released, I say... why not? When a company releases a good classics compilation, I buy them up. So if they don't get my money, it's literally all their fault. Not sure what the big deal is anyway if it's something that's not available normally. None of the original companies get a dime from all these used game sales of classic games. Doesn't matter if they're official copies, the outcome is the same as rom sites. No money for those that made it. When Sony pulls shit like they do, or Nintendo vaults their stuff, they make the argument all the more valid.

[Ricky G]

Wow. Thank God for discs!

[CrowKiller]

More bad news out if the Sony camp.

PS4's internal clock battery could brick your console


https://www.techradar.com/news/ps4-c...k-your-console


As for the PT demo, there's ways around it to get it on your PS4. I got it on mine long after it was taken down. Didn't have to JB or anything. My PS4 is 100% normal. Not sure if the method still works though. It's been a year or so.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by Mavrick

The PS3, PS Vita, and PlayStation Portable stores aren’t long for this world. According to a source familiar with the situation (verified by TheGamer), the stores are due to be closed down from July. The announcement is planned for the end of this month.

PSP’s and PS3’s stores are to be closed on July 2, while the PS Vita store will stay open until August 27. After those dates, you will no longer be able to purchase digital copies of games or DLC for any of the Sony consoles mentioned above.

https://www.thegamer.com/ps3-vita-ps...nently-closed/

So if I went and bought an original PlayStation 3 after this date, how would I be able to get the "PS2 System Data" file needed to play PlayStation 2 games requiring the hard drive?

[CrowKiller]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

So if I went and bought an original PlayStation 3 after this date, how would I be able to get the "PS2 System Data" file needed to play PlayStation 2 games requiring the hard drive?

None of the PS3s play PS2 games, other than a couple of the older versions. Unless you're talking about the store downloads. Besides, you can just jailbreak it and play PS2 games all day. I did it for mine, and play PS 1-3 on it. Mainly my physical collection. Also use it as a region free Blu/DVD player.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

None of the PS3s play PS2 games, other than a couple of the older versions. Unless you're talking about the store downloads. Besides, you can just jailbreak it and play PS2 games all day. I did it for mine, and play PS 1-3 on it. Mainly my physical collection. Also use it as a region free Blu/DVD player.

I clearly said original PlayStation 3 from back when it had the PlayStation 2 hardware.

[CrowKiller]

Originally Posted by BijouMan

I clearly said original PlayStation 3 from back when it had the PlayStation 2 hardware.

Ah alright. Most of those anyway are dead consoles or are close to it. Unless you're good at repairing. JBing a slim console (not super slim) would be your best bet anyway if you want to play your PS2 games.

[BijouMan]

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

Ah alright. Most of those anyway are dead consoles or are close to it. Unless you're good at repairing. JBing a slim console (not super slim) would be your best bet anyway if you want to play your PS2 games.

They recently figured out what the problem with the original PlayStation 3 was. For all these years, it was always thought to be the GPU soldering, but only recently, they figured out that it was actually two defective NEC/TOKIN capacitors on the opposite side of the motherboard near the GPU. People have replaced these with tantalum capacitors and now their console works perfectly.