What you need to know
- Sony announced in March that it had plans to close the PS3, PS Vita, and PSP digital storefronts over the summer.
- Following widespread backlash and criticism online, the company has reversed its decision and will continue to operate the PS3 and PS Vita storefronts.
- The PSP storefront is still set to close on July 2, 2021.
PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has confirmed that the company will not close the PS3 and PS Vita digital storefronts after all. This comes a few weeks after Sony had announced its initial plans to close the PS3, PS Vita, and PSP storefronts this coming summer. After widespread criticism online, that decision has been reversed.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Ryan goes on to say that it's clear the wrong decision was initially made.
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.
Though the PS3 and PS Vita stores will remain open, the PSP storefront is still expected to close on July 2, 2021. Ryan says that he's glad to keep these pieces of history alive for gamers as they continue to deliver new titles on PS4 and PS5.
This is a great move by Sony for game preservation, which had previously been criticized for its backwards stance on the subject. It's been so difficult to buy a PS5 lately that a lot of people are still playing their older consoles and handhelds. For games that only released digitally, closing those storefronts would have effectively pulled them off the market.
