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PS3, PSP, and PS Vita stores closing this summer (confirmed)


Zapp Branniglenn
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So you may have been hearing from various websites that these digital storefronts will be shutting down, with the rumored dates being July 2 for PS3 and PSP, and Aug 27 for the Vita. While I can't speak to the validity of these rumors, anybody with eyes and interest in the subject can see that this day is fast approaching. Last year, long before the PS5 released, there was a playstation store redesign on browsers that made it impossible to search up any titles for these three platforms. You could still access the appropriate stores, however, a lot of people have been reporting that their purchases won't go through on the playstation store apps for each respective system, so you could say Sony has already been phasing them out. Thankfully, if you know the right URL, you can still access the old playstation store if you just want to look at what's available and for what system. This is also apparently the only place you can still make purchases, from what I'm hearing.

I'll be the first to say it: the playstation store of the late 2000s and early 2010s was a haven of good, rare games at a reasonable price. Very strong competition for Nintendo's virtual console offerings. I always recommended the PS3 especially to people who don't have a preference for physical copies, and especially looking to game on a budget. If you go to the old playstation store link I provided, you'll see plenty of great stuff under "Classics" (note that the PS2 Games category confusingly only refers to ps2 games made available for PS4. Those aren't going away). Over the years, a few games have gotten delisted, but what remains is still great due to these titles not yet being lucky enough to earn re-releases on modern hardware. Final Fantasies, Resident Evils, Mega Man Legends, Suikoden, Syphon Filter, Wild Arms, Fatal Frame, Shin Megami Tensei, super obscure one-off jrpgs. Sure, emulation is always a thing, but this thread is for squares only, got it? 

So anyway, what are your fondest retro gaming memories from the playstation store? Planning any last minute purchases? I'm currently building a catalogue of final games I'd like to add to my collection that aren't available on anything modern. Particularly PSP games for my playstation tv. Oh, that's basically a console version of the vita, for those uninitiated. I got it for like forty dollars when it released, which was way cheaper than the Vita at the time. So far I'm looking at:

Spoiler

 

  • Breath of Fire 3 (for some reason the ps1 original never made it to the PS3, although 4 did)
  • Lunar Silver Star Story Harmony (a psp remaster of yet another ps1 classic that wasn't made available on PS3)
  • Ape Escape On the Loose (same as the above two. Remake of the first game which you can't find on PS3)
  • The 3rd Birthday: Parasite Eve
  • Daxter
  • Valkyria Chronicles 2
  • Wild Arms XF
  • castlevania dracula x chronicles
  • gungnir
  • Ratchet & Clank Size Matters
  • Persona 1 and Persona 2 Innocent Sin
  • Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops
  • Mega man maverick hunter X

But of course I'll be doing research in the near future for hidden gem games, and triple checking that I own what I want to own.

 

Update: While Sony has not commented on the rumors, the web browser link to the old store has been shut down on March 26th. It now redirects you to the new store, so you can't use it as a workaround anymore.

Update 2: No longer just a rumor. Sony has yet to comment on whether downloaded games will remain playable with a dead CMOS battery. Since currently, if your system is afflicted by this, it can connect online to bypass the antipiracy check. People are hoping Sony will update the PS3 one last time to remove the antipiracy check when the servers go offline.

Edited by Glennstavos
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I managed to gathered alot of games on the PlayStation TV. I might search again in the PlayStation Store before it ends and closes down to see what I can pick up for other PSP and PlayStation One Classic games that I can buy.

Edited by King Marth 64
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Yeah I can't even buy anything on the PS3 store. According to people online, purchases have only been possible on the (old) playstation store website in the last few months.

They're claiming that Sony will announce the closures at the end of this month. I think it may be smart to wait for that confirmation before buying stuff, but for now I'm just working on a list of junk I would want. I wouldn't put it past Sony to shutter the stores with no warning though, so if we don't hear anything by april-ish, I may give myself the go ahead. I just don't want to miss my chance, is all.

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1 minute ago, Glennstavos said:

Yeah I can't even buy anything on the PS3 store. According to people online, purchases have only been possible on the (old) playstation store website in the last few months.

They're claiming that Sony will announce the closures at the end of this month. I think it may be smart to wait for that confirmation before buying stuff, but for now I'm just working on a list of junk I would want. I wouldn't put it past Sony to shutter the stores with no warning though, so if we don't hear anything by april-ish, I may give myself the go ahead. I just don't want to miss my chance, is all.

Really, that's kinda bad for PS3 Players? Is it the games still being purchasable on PSP systems? I only have a PlayStation TV, I managed to finish looking at the official website to see I might buy them for my PS TV console.

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2 minutes ago, King Marth 64 said:

Really, that's kinda bad for PS3 Players? Is it the games still being purchasable on PSP systems? I only have a PlayStation TV, I managed to finish looking at the official website to see I might buy them for my PS TV console.

For me it's just giving me an error message when I try to checkout on my ps3. But just now I bought one of the games I was looking for on the old website. And it worked. I'm downloading it on my ps3 right now. According to users on reddit, this is the only way they've been able to get it to work, at least on PS3. I don't know if the playstation tv is having the same issue.

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4 minutes ago, Zan Partizanne said:

They're only available in the US PS Store, right?

I can't find them in the EU store.

Maybe, I wouldn't know. To be clear those two are PSP remasters, not the PS1 originals. 

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I'm aware they are remasters. It's the same like Persona 3 for PSP. Apparently Sony doesn't like to grant Persona games for newer consoles outside of JP and US since I remember Persona 4 for PS3 not being available in the EU store either.

Edited by Zan Partizanne
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5 minutes ago, Zan Partizanne said:

I'm aware they are remasters. It's the same like Persona 3 for PSP. Apparently Sony doesn't like to grant Persona games for newer consoles outside of JP and US since I remember Persona 4 for PS4 not being available in the EU store either.

Persona 4 wasn't put on PS4 for any region. Although they did put it on Steam last year, so maybe we'll see more games in that series show up in the near future, and on more modern platforms. 

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8 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

Maybe, I wouldn't know. To be clear those two are PSP remasters, not the PS1 originals. 

Splitting hairs, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is a PS1 Classic, and Innocent Sin is a PSP remaster. 

The oddity is because the Eternal Punishment PSP remaster was released way too late in the PSP's life for it get released abroad, so they settled on giving North America the PS1 version it had gotten in the past. Innocent Sin's remaster came a slightly earlier in the PSP's lifespan, and the West had never gotten the game before, as it hadn't been released on the PS1 abroad; unsure of why, other than maybe Germany's infamous 20th century dictator being resurrected by the power of conspiracy theories and all.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Splitting hairs, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is a PS1 Classic, and Innocent Sin is a PSP remaster. 

Yeah, and Eternal Punishment's been sitting in the void that is my PS3 for years.

Hey speaking of great PS Store memories, Persona 3 FES. I bought that right after graduating real life high school. Finishing high school to go BACK to high school. That's hilarious. I want people to tell that story at my funeral. What else: Legend of Dragoooooon. That's my favorite PS1 rpg. Heroes screaming their move names out loud when you do the action command successfully. FMV cutscenes, and pre-rendered graphics! And there's Metal Gear Solid. I already had played its gamecube remake growing up, but going back to the ps1 original makes it seems like such a bigger deal. For a game released in 1997 to look and sound like that. It's not about being a great movie, it's about pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a video game. For a brief six hours I'm convinced that Kojima really is a genius. Also I recently heard this codec conversation for the first time. It's wonderful. And most recently: Suikoden! I'm playing the sequel right now, and I'm loving the greater detail on sprite animation.

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23 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

What else: Legend of Dragoooooon. That's my favorite PS1 rpg.

Considering you seem to have an interest in video games from a historical side of things, you might find use in this as a ~$50 650-page guide for an entire genre.:

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-guide-to-japanese-role-playing-games?mc_cid=eefdb43a8d&mc_eid=75ee983078

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my guess is that all those titles won't be sent to oblivion along with their "obsolete" e-shops for previous consoles, but rather that they're probably trying to migrate everything to either PS4 and/or their new PS5 systems.

there will always be people playing with retro games, so i doubt they're going to shut down entirely two whole generations of console/portable titles. the only downside is that the overall access to those old titles will probably be even more limited than before due to different, obvious factors.

on a side note:

Quote

The 3rd Birthday: Parasite Eve

Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops

i can already tell you that PE 3 and MGS PO aren't really great games. i know because i have them in their original PSP form, and i completed them both multitple times.

however, if you're a fan and eventually a collector too, then by all means i can understand the wish to have a complete collection, but if you're just going for a good story and overall fun gameplay, they're honestly pretty average, and that's being very generous.

PE 1/2 had way more charm and an actual solid backstory, while PE 3 kind of killed the franchise for different reasons.

MGS PO is an ok game, just not on the same level of Peace Walker. in terms of story, you can think about it as a spin off such as MGS Ac!d, but related to Big Boss rather than Snake.

it may have some interesting mechanics and concepts that were assimilated by PW later on, but the gameplay in PO becomes repetitive quite fast and doesn't add much in terms of replay value.

there's other titles from the PSP era that in my opinion are way more fun and memorable, such as "Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions" for example.

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8 hours ago, Jingilator said:

So apparently, this was a load of pants.

The lack of source is about as sketchy as Sony's silence on a widely reported rumor. Sources are verified individually by the journalists in these situations. You're being asked to trust in the author's judgement. There should be no expectation of being provided a name, for that person's protection - they're breaking an NDA, or they're a hacker.

There's a lot of fair points on both sides of the argument, but the truth is that nobody without an NDA has any more information than anybody else. Another possibility is that Sony sees all the panic buying right now and is in no hurry to quell the rumor if it was untrue. But after the state they left the store in last year, there's nothing farfetched about a shut down this year. You can't even buy anything on just your PS3 these days, you have to use workarounds. 

10 hours ago, 𝙵ᴇɴʀᴇɪʀ said:

however, if you're a fan and eventually a collector too, then by all means i can understand the wish to have a complete collection, but if you're just going for a good story and overall fun gameplay, they're honestly pretty average, and that's being very generous.

I'm aware of their reputations, and I am interested in them for collection purposes.

On 3/23/2021 at 12:56 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Considering you seem to have an interest in video games from a historical side of things, you might find use in this as a ~$50 650-page guide for an entire genre.:

https://www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-guide-to-japanese-role-playing-games?mc_cid=eefdb43a8d&mc_eid=75ee983078

It does interest me. Thank you.

Update: While Sony has not commented on the rumors, the web browser link to the old store has been shut down on March 26th. It now redirects you to the new store, so you can't use it as a workaround anymore.

Edited by Glennstavos
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Well, Sony made it official now. PSP/PS3 shutting down on July 2nd, Vita on August 27th. The rumor was 100% accurate. Sony has yet to address concerns about whether the downloaded titles can still be played with a dead CMos battery once the system is unable to connect to the store for its anti-piracy check.

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1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

Well, Sony made it official now. PSP/PS3 shutting down on July 2nd, Vita on August 27th. The rumor was 100% accurate. Sony has yet to address concerns about whether the downloaded titles can still be played with a dead CMos battery once the system is unable to connect to the store for its anti-piracy check.

Gaming companies: "Piracy is a huge problem in the industry"

Also gaming companies:

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At least it was good while it lasted. This is how I got my favorite Persona 3 Portable on my Vita after all. Not to mention, I'm glad Sony decided to keep the PS Store for Vita and PS3 long after PS4, and even right after PS5 came out - unlike the debacle of the DS Wi-Fi & online services. I might as well get Odin Sphere and Aegis Rim 13...

I do hope at least some of the old titles gets migrated over to the PS Store for PS4 and 5, though...or maybe some already have done so? Does anyone know if you can buy digital PS3/Vita/PSP games for PS4-5? 

Edited by henrymidfields
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At least I might still get more stuff from the official PlayStaton Store for my PlayStation TV by August. I did managed to look over on the Official PlayStation Website to see what I can get before it close down on August. I do need to buy more PlayStation Store Cards and check the Storage on my PlayStation Vita Memory Card since I have two of them.

Edited by King Marth 64
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2 hours ago, henrymidfields said:

At least it was good while it lasted. This is how I got my favorite Persona 3 Portable on my Vita after all. Not to mention, I'm glad Sony decided to keep the PS Store for Vita and PS3 long after PS4, and even right after PS5 came out - unlike the debacle of the DS Wi-Fi & online services. I might as well get Odin Sphere and Aegis Rim 13...

Odin Sphere, that's another PS3 memory. I was big into classic beat em ups, and researching whether they ever made a true hybrid between that and rpgs, and that led me to downloading Odin Sphere. When the remaster came out, I was the rare, extinct quail of a man that had played the original. When asked if I'd play the remaster I would just laugh and say no thanks. One playthrough of that game already felt like five playthroughs of the game.

Quote

I do hope at least some of the old titles gets migrated over to the PS Store for PS4 and 5, though...or maybe some already have done so? Does anyone know if you can buy digital PS3/Vita/PSP games for PS4-5? 

There's some titles that have what is called "cross-buy", where one purchase of a game lets you download and play it on another system. Some cross buy titles were between Vita and PS4, think games releasing in the mid 2010s. But when it comes to classic games on PS3, there's almost no overlap between that and PS4. The PS4 has no PS1 games, and only some PS2 titles. The PS4 versions of PS2 games have their own trophies and are generally HD upscaled remasters, where as the PS3 versions are straight ports with no enhancements.

The PS5 is backwards compatible with PS4 games, and some PS3 games are on the subscription service Playstation Now, but as far as I've heard, there's no retro titles beyond that. That's just what I'm reading on the internet though. I don't own a PS5 to provide any further details.

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1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

Odin Sphere, that's another PS3 memory. I was big into classic beat em ups, and researching whether they ever made a true hybrid between that and rpgs, and that led me to downloading Odin Sphere. When the remaster came out, I was the rare, extinct quail of a man that had played the original. When asked if I'd play the remaster I would just laugh and say no thanks. One playthrough of that game already felt like five playthroughs of the game.

If the core issue was five stories in seven chapters each sharing eight areas, Leifthrasir edition would do nothing to fix your criticism.

However! Leifthrasir is not a simple HD remaster.

If the issue was clunky gameplay, then I must inform you that was fixed. Leifthrasir contains "Classic Mode" featuring the gameplay of the original, and "Refined Mode". Refined was made because people criticized the gameplay of the original version. Refined streamlines things into fluid and fun hack n' slash combat based on Vanillaware's later title Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Everyone has a wide and distinct arsenal of attacks now and you're a lot less dependent on items.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought a lot of the PSP games I mentioned in the OP. Some of them needed to be searched up on PS3 though because they weren't searchable on the Vita's store despite being compatible. Also got a few more games for my PS3. The issue I was having with purchasing games on the PS3 store seemed to have been fixed after that stealth update in late March. Altogether I spent more than a hundred bucks. Oof. Unfortunately two of the PSP games weren't compatible with my PSTV after I bought and downloaded them. They were Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops and Castlevania Dracula X chronicles. Portable Ops is surprising though as this issue was apparently fixed in 2017. From what I'm reading online, konami PSP games have been gradually "whitelisted" over the years. Made unplayable on the Vita, but their store entries still exist for you to buy them. That's dumb. And a shame since I was looking forward to both of those games. I don't know why these games are searchable on the Vita's store if they're not compatible, but I managed to get a refund from playstation support pretty painlessly.

Edited by Glennstavos
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On 4/11/2021 at 8:37 PM, Glennstavos said:

I bought a lot of the PSP games I mentioned in the OP. Some of them needed to be searched up on PS3 though because they weren't searchable on the Vita's store despite being compatible. Also got a few more games for my PS3. The issue I was having with purchasing games on the PS3 store seemed to have been fixed after that stealth update in late March. Altogether I spent more than a hundred bucks. Oof. Unfortunately two of the PSP games weren't compatible with my PSTV after I bought and downloaded them. They were Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops and Castlevania Dracula X chronicles. Portable Ops is surprising though as this issue was apparently fixed in 2017. From what I'm reading online, konami PSP games have been gradually "whitelisted" over the years. Made unplayable on the Vita, but their store entries still exist for you to buy them. That's dumb. And a shame since I was looking forward to both of those games. I don't know why these games are searchable on the Vita's store if they're not compatible, but I managed to get a refund from playstation support pretty painlessly.

Kinda weird since I'm pretty sure I had it on Vita around 2017. (I'm in Europe if that matters.)

If it's any consolation I think PSP is rather easy to emulate it. (I had way, way too many hours on Portable Ops Plus.)

It'd probably never happen, (or they'd obnoxiously microtransaction it) but I really wish we got either a Portable Ops Plus 2 or AC!D 3.

Edited by Samz707
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