PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita Will Continue Operations

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PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita Will Continue Operations

Players will be able to continue to purchase games on PS3 and PS Vita.

Jim Ryan President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment

Recently, we notified players that PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita devices was planned to end this summer. 

Upon further reflection, however, it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here. So today I’m happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices. PSP commerce functionality will retire on July 2, 2021 as planned. 

When we initially came to the decision to end purchasing support for PS3 and PS Vita, it was born out of a number of factors, including commerce support challenges for older devices and the ability for us to focus more of our resources on newer devices where a majority of our gamers are playing on. We see now that many of you are incredibly passionate about being able to continue purchasing classic games on PS3 and PS Vita for the foreseeable future, so I’m glad we were able to find a solution to continue operations.

I’m glad that we can keep this piece of our history alive for gamers to enjoy, while we continue to create cutting-edge new game worlds for PS4, PS5, and the next generation of VR.

Thank you for sharing your feedback with us – we’re always listening and appreciate the support from our PlayStation community. 

playstation store

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929 Comments

  • themightyimp2
    April 19, 2021 at 12:36 pm PDT

    We appreciate this decision, and I must say that people like me with 900+ games, the bulk of which are downloaded from psn will only support your company if we believe that we will be able to access and play these games forever. If that means you need to develop emulation software to do this for newer systems like the PS5, then you really need to do that. The CMOS battery issue of needing to log into psn to verify ownership or check licenses is also damaging your company, and we trust that the issue will be patched out in advance of that becoming a problem.
    Please don’t forget in an ever increasing world of digital ownership, we consumers only allow this to happen due to our trust in you. Digital affords you better profit margins and the benefits to the environment of not physically producing the discs, manuals, cases, and shipping them to retail stores is a great thing. But we cannot have the feeling that all we have collected can be taken away without full compensation in the event of a company of your size turning off a server or similar, even if you have covered it in a EULA or similar.
    Please continue to do the right thing. And we will continue to be first day ps5 adopters, and pre orderers of in reviewed software.

    We need to act together to keep the trust.

  • leFlass
    April 19, 2021 at 12:37 pm PDT

    I wonder if the original decision was just a tone deaf one, or a greedy one to get people to panic buy, especially with such a short notice. It worked for me, to be honest, I bought around 30 physical PS3 games and several digital ones. In any case, I’m glad they reversed it. They probably needed it with all the backlash and bad PR lately.

    • themightyimp2
      April 19, 2021 at 12:40 pm PDT

      Yes, that has crossed my mind. Like Mario 3d all stars timed release, it forced buying over a short period.

      I have bought many vita physical games recently as a direct result of these announcements.. to be honest, there’s nothing on the vita store that I currently want, but the idea that even our physical games might be useless at the flick of a server button is very disconcerting..

  • mejiasuarez
    April 19, 2021 at 12:38 pm PDT

    Thanks a bunch me like many others where very concerned with the closer of the stores for ps3 and vita thanks for listening

  • KavinCatastrophe
    April 19, 2021 at 12:38 pm PDT

    Some saw Jim Sterling Video on this Matter.

  • yukimoto_sensei
    April 19, 2021 at 12:39 pm PDT

    It would be great if they brought back the psn and the playstore to what it used to be. In my case I bought the subscription so that I can take advantage of all digital game sales including free games but I was too late because it was no longer available 💔💔

  • gor1llap1mp
    April 19, 2021 at 12:39 pm PDT

    Thank you! Gracias! Arigatou!

  • nether1n
    April 19, 2021 at 12:40 pm PDT

    Thank you. Can we have a ps3/vita sale now?

  • AllCoresEnabled
    April 19, 2021 at 12:43 pm PDT

    This announcement has made my day! Thank you Jim!

  • MiNdSpHaR
    April 19, 2021 at 12:43 pm PDT

    Too late. I moved to the series X. I’ll never buy anything from Sony. until they get rid of that idiot Jim Ryan. he’s the moron that shut down Evolution Studios. killed off Sony’s Japanese Studios. and wants naughty dog make another remaster of Last of Us for PS5💯🤡🤪🤪 I would never buy any digital games from Sony. they can never be trusted. Sony found somebody that was a bigger idiot than Don mattrick 🤪🤪🔥🔥

  • pixellated_man
    April 19, 2021 at 12:43 pm PDT

    If Sony adds all these legacy systems to ps now AND adds backwards compatibility for local play, that could be a better longer term solution. Don’t think there will be much outrage if these options are available in place before closing the stores, which I think will happen eventually despite today’s commitment.

  • muaddib11
    April 19, 2021 at 12:43 pm PDT

    Simply awesome. Well done, guys. 👍

  • reishin8amara
    April 19, 2021 at 12:43 pm PDT

    I love that the stores are going to remain open but I do have a complaint.

    Last time I looked the PS3 store is kinda a hot mess. When you open it to ‘Best of PS3’, your options are Best fo Saints Row, Best of Sonic, Best of 2K, Best of Sonic*, Best of 2K…I think you see the first issue here.

    Next, in the Just for You section, is nothing but PS4 Games…on a PS3 console. Just these first two sections show alot of wasted space advertising for a console you obviously do not have if your playing on the PS3 still.

    This is the issue you run into for the rest of the store is nothing is sorted properly, as most of what is shown is only for PSP or PS Vita with only a handful of PS3 content throughout the PS3 store.

    Next,some games are LITERALLY unavailable and the icons only exists to show you ‘this game title used to be in the store’. PES2017 Trial Edition and NHL15 both have this problem.

    And probally the biggest problem is some old titles still have the RIDICULOUS prices like the outdated Call of Duty Black ops ultimate edition being 75$ when you can probally find it in a store these days for 20-30$ ,or less because of it coming out 9 years ago. Some of the prices for some titles are still Release Date Prices. Of course I notice this seems to more often be for triple A games.

    As for confusing choices in the shop…The Capcom collection features Devil May Cry 1,2,3 as a bundle…then the Devil May Cry Reboot, yet 4 is a absent from the collection. Just felt like a bit of a headscratcher.

    One other issue they seem to have is the lists are scrambled all over the place…no categorizing. Even alphabetically would probally clean the store up somewhat as the games alphabetically were sorted P,B,E,J,A,A meaning of you find one game but are looking for a sequel for instance, you may end up scrolling down about 40 more game titles before you actually find it.

    Finally,some of the genre sections use icons for games that aren’t even listed inside said lists.

    Now onto positives…The PS1 store is amazing. I already saw some goodies I can’t wait to go for one my next purchase. The PS2 store is semi decent but also feels like it should’ve had more titles and variety by now. Both of these stores could potentially even grow more overtime to appeal to nostalgia fans.

    I don’t actually blame the company for the stores problems but rather whoever they put in charge of designing it, as it seems like the difference between a professional web designer who puts their own little touchups in and a cheap one who did ‘what they were paid for’ by put no extra effort into it.

    Overall,the PS3 store is decent but honestly I feel like it would get alot more customers if Playstation would just show the store a bit more love and not have it so haphazardly thrown together.

  • Goufunaki22
    April 19, 2021 at 12:44 pm PDT

    Good. People still cherish their old games. Now let’s add more backward compatibility for them on the PS5.

  • fortkavanagh
    April 19, 2021 at 12:45 pm PDT

    I’m happy that soon is going to keep the playstation 3 store in the playstation Vita store still open, but all this looks kinda fishy?

  • winter_wrx
    April 19, 2021 at 12:46 pm PDT

    Thank you Jim! The playstation community is gonna be happy to hear that you guys are listening to what we want.

  • JediKnight246
    April 19, 2021 at 12:47 pm PDT

    Good that Sony have decided to not make what would have been a big mistake for game preservation. The PS3 and PS Vita are heavily reliant on the PlayStation Store for digital games and DLC (including story DLC). Some PS3 games like InFamous: Festival of Blood and Call of Duty Classic are digital only and can’t be played on PlayStation in any other way. A lot of PS Vita games are also digital only, and the PS Vita’s compatiblity with digital PSP games would have also been lost. This is why proper backwards compatiblity (including discs) for these games is so important on PS5, so that digital only games can’t just disappear when older stores are no longer supported.

    Some of the best games ever made are on PS1, PS2 and PS3. Just hanging onto older consoles forever and expecting older console hardware to last forever is not an ideal solution, and some people don’t want to own half a dozen consoles when the PS5 could play many if not all of these older PlayStation games if Sony wanted to make it happen. Full compatibility with all PS1 and PS2 games including discs has been done on previous consoles. Surely on a far more powerful console like the PS5 there’s something Sony could do for PS3 games as well. Poor decisions that Sony made with the PS3 in the early 2000s should not still be affecting newer consoles today when it comes to backwards compatibility.

    I’m glad that Sony have reconsidered and have decided not to close the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita after all. However I will be making future purchases for digital-only games on Xbox One instead (for multiplatform games) as at least there I know I will be able to play those games on future Xbox consoles as well and they won’t be locked to just one console.

  • NASA_Engineer
    April 19, 2021 at 12:48 pm PDT

    Damn straight. After finding out about the fiasco with CMOS batteries and the store closings I was giving up on ever purchasing anything from Sony ever again (and I have around a thousands games across 6 platforms). Not sure if I’ll be coming back for the PS5, but this is a step in the right direction.

  • gpowmx
    April 19, 2021 at 12:49 pm PDT

    Thanks Sony!!!!! I like very much my ps3 and psvita!!

  • PhantomOfOpera
    April 19, 2021 at 12:49 pm PDT

    Thank you for explaining why you wanted to close the store.
    Above all thank you for listening.

  • sr_ThankyouADN
    April 19, 2021 at 12:50 pm PDT

    Thankyou, SIR!

    Thats greats news!
    Now just missing the Web-Store…

  • NB-DanTE
    April 19, 2021 at 12:51 pm PDT

    No thanks!

  • AdonisIsBeast
    April 19, 2021 at 12:51 pm PDT

    Now just acquire Square Enix and your 1st party lineup for the next 5 console generations will be set!

  • Green-Elf
    April 19, 2021 at 12:53 pm PDT

    This is good news. Will we still be able to purchase PSP games on the Vita Store?

    • Spacerac
      April 19, 2021 at 1:32 pm PDT

      I assume this will be the case, it’s just the in-game purchase part for PSP games will be retired, which is fair.

  • kirobisanoks
    April 19, 2021 at 12:53 pm PDT

    Thank you very much! I am still using the PS3 store, as well as PS4 and PS5 stores. Been a Playstation fan since PS2, and I not only play new amazing games, but also often come back to brilliant classics. Just like many people, I would also suggest looking into backwards compatibility. I use this feature a lot in all consoles that have it)

  • gobosox20
    April 19, 2021 at 12:53 pm PDT

    Thanks Jim! Gamers appreciate you listening to feedback. I hope this doesn’t change next year.

  • Toe_Tag_
    April 19, 2021 at 12:55 pm PDT

    Awesome news.
    Can We have Socom Confrontation Cold Front download added back please?
    Thank You

  • GeminiGeek2000
    April 19, 2021 at 12:56 pm PDT

    Thank you so much for sharing this with the Playstation community. I want to thank you for reversing the decision to close the PS3 and Vita online Playstation Stores, and thank you for listening to feedback from the fans. If I could ask for one thing, I would ask that those in charge of Playstation continue to be open to feedback and input from the community, and hear out the thoughts and opinions of us Playstation fans, maybe even plan regular surveys to help get said feedback from fans, so we can all build a stronger Playstation brand. Thank you again.

  • robot619
    April 19, 2021 at 12:57 pm PDT

    This is great news! Can we please get PS5 to become backwards compatible with the PSX, PS2 and PS3 (or at the very least, let us carry over digital PS3 purchases)?

    Love,
    Andy

    • cosmo_kane
      April 19, 2021 at 5:30 pm PDT

      Yes! The latter absolutely! Completely ridiculous that almost exactly the same experiences are considered different products just a generation apart.

      At least offer a massive upgrade discount like Nintendo did.

  • BlakeWar108
    April 19, 2021 at 12:57 pm PDT

    Thank you Jim! Now please take it a step further and provide backwards compatibility option to play PS3/PS2/PS1 games on PS5. I am currently in the process of playing through the entire Ratchet and Clank series (most of which are still on the PS3) before the release of the new one. Would be great to play them all on one console with enhancements. Same for Killzone, inFamous, Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, Genji, Folklore, Toyko Jungle, ICO, Rain, Metal Gear Solid 4 all of which are PS3 exclusives. Thanks again!

  • tyl0413
    April 19, 2021 at 12:57 pm PDT

    I honestly didn’t think this would happen but i’m so glad it did. Hopefully one day we get an official PS3 backwards compatibility solution as well, it was my favorite generation would be such a shame to let some many great games sooner or later die on that aging hardware.

  • Keystame
    April 19, 2021 at 12:58 pm PDT

    Thanks jim especially with the cmos thing going on i was 😱 you just put a big 😃 on my face🗽

  • ed_ed1
    April 19, 2021 at 12:59 pm PDT

    Thanks, that’s a good move. But PLEASE remove the online requirement if CMOS Battery dies. Let me play my physical disc without restriction.

  • TheBitMan775
    April 19, 2021 at 1:01 pm PDT

    Excellent news!

  • cypha911
    April 19, 2021 at 1:01 pm PDT

    Thank you very much Mr. Ryan.

  • awesome4ever2000
    April 19, 2021 at 1:01 pm PDT

    Thank you! 😁

  • Redikol
    April 19, 2021 at 1:02 pm PDT

    Thank you so much for listening. I’m so relieved to hear this news. So much more PSN games/DLC I still yet wish to purchase.

  • FatalLightning-X
    April 19, 2021 at 1:03 pm PDT

    Thank you so much Jim! I thought that purchasing content for the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita are done for, but I am glad that gamers are able to purchase content for PS3 and the PS Vita. Thank you Sony for listening to our feedbacks, and never let us down. I have been a huge PlayStation fan since the PS1 Era, especially when I was little. I know you guys care about gamers and customers, and we will continue to support you and the PlayStation Communities. Again, thank you for listening to our feedbacks. Legacy games (even for current gen, next gen, and old gen) are timeless, and they are there for life.

  • ciderguzzler
    April 19, 2021 at 1:04 pm PDT

    Excellent news, I’m very happy to hear that. There’s some brilliant games on PS3 that I want to play.

  • Krazybone
    April 19, 2021 at 1:05 pm PDT

    This is great news!!!! Love the ps vita store. Where else am I going to get games for it.

    Thank you so much.

  • xgoddessblessedx
    April 19, 2021 at 1:06 pm PDT

    So glad to hear it was reconsidered! You just made sure that we can continue on with a gaming era that isn’t going to end just yet. Thanks Jim, my children and I are smiling ear to ear for this little victory :)

  • OllyMelancholy
    April 19, 2021 at 1:08 pm PDT

    Good on ya. Destroying huge swaths of gaming history would not have been a good look for Sony.

  • edgardc96
    April 19, 2021 at 1:09 pm PDT

    Thank You So much… Wow

  • satellite_anthem
    April 19, 2021 at 1:11 pm PDT

    Smart move!!

  • mad707man
    April 19, 2021 at 1:15 pm PDT

    So it was a terrible April fools joke all along…………..

  • cpt_payneviii
    April 19, 2021 at 1:16 pm PDT

    Yaaassss…. Thank you so much since your statement gave really some feeling of being heard maybe I really Stay on Playstation
    But dont be Jerks (like u write under “add comment”)
    to us Anymore Keep that Legacy web Store Front for ps3 psvita games up if u cant afford the consol stores anymore would also makes sense in case
    But still thanls verly much very kind

    Best Regards
    A Gamer

  • MEK1ner
    April 19, 2021 at 1:16 pm PDT

    Hi there Jim Ryan, is there any way to make a digital version of a PSone classic called Disruptor made by insomniac games. I used to play that game non stop back in the day even after I beat it, heck what am I talking about I still play it. Or better yet can you talk to insomniac games and see if they can remake it with current tech. Make that happen either way. Still have Disruptor on disc original jewel case and all. Also Contra shattered soldier, Castlevania both PS2 games. Anyways thanks for listening to community feedback, I think you are doing great and as you said “let the games do the talking”.

  • mode3517
    April 19, 2021 at 1:20 pm PDT

    Hi Jim,
    This was the only correct decision, as you have stated that you do not have any plans to bring Backwards Compatibility of ps3, ps2 or ps1 titles, or even make them available for purchase digitally on current gen consoles.
    Retro-gaming is a fast growing movement which has exploded over the last 5 years as evidenced by how quickly the price of older consoles and physical games have gone up on secondary markets, and how nostalgia has largely been the driving ethos of Gen Y and Gen Z.
    Please consider releasing these older classics that make up your company’s history on your newest platforms so that future generations can experience them too.

  • clemente_47
    April 19, 2021 at 1:24 pm PDT

    Since you guys said you guys are always listening to your community and customer feedback and then bring back PlayStation communities on PS4 🥺 just because the PS5 is out doesn’t mean you should go killing off the PS4 little by little the PS4 is the best PlayStation ever created it was all about community and connecting gamers all around the world/being able to share one’s best gameplay moments with friends or the community.

  • Jotamide
    April 19, 2021 at 1:24 pm PDT

    I’d be nice if you could bring the PS3 and Vita webstores back though. Buying them on their respective consoles is like pulling teeth.

  • Finka_Karfein
    April 19, 2021 at 1:28 pm PDT

    Phew, I’m glad you have listened. I’d thank you but for that you’d need to reintroduce discounts for legacy PlayStation platforms. Still, I won’t hide my happiness :)
    For now I’ll stop being a hater that you have made me in the last two years. And you managed to achieve that when just two years ago I was a total PS fanboy. Maybe there’s yet hope for our relationship.

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