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Sony Quietly Kills Off PlayStation Web Store For PS3, PSP, And Vita Games

Sony covertly removed an old version of the PlayStation Store that allowed users to buy games for the PS3, PSP, and Vita consoles.

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Sony has quietly killed an old web version of the PlayStation Store that let people buy games on discontinued consoles. This has provoked a backlash from fans who preferred to use the web interface over the devices themselves.

Back in late 2020, Sony revamped its web and mobile-based PlayStation Store and removed the option to buy PS3, PSP, and Vita games, as well as nuking the wishlist feature. As Eurogamer notes, determined fans were able to buy PS3, PSP, and Vita content and view their wishlists through a region-specific URL. Over the weekend, however, ResetEra users noticed that the URL has stopped working entirely, redirecting instead to the new PlayStation Store, which only allows users to purchase PS4 and PS5 games.

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Now Playing: Demon's Souls PS5 Remake Vs PS3 Original

Though users can still buy PS3, Vita, and PSP games on the devices themselves, this news is particularly troubling for some fans of those platforms. That's because a recent report from TheGamer claimed that the PS3, Vita, and PSP storefronts will be permanently closed later this summer. [Update: This has now been confirmed, and Sony will shut down these PlayStation stores this summer.] Though those claims have remained unverified by Sony or other parties, it has still led fans to worry that they will no longer be able to buy new games on their beloved old platforms. Sony isn't shy about removing features from its consoles--it recently shut down the PlayStation Communities feature on PS4.

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sladakrobot

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Edited By sladakrobot

I would spend good money on a Sony device which can play all games from past gens(on CD,DVD,BR,Mini Disc and a slot for Vita modules).

I think Sony should do a non profit move and make all previous gen games accessible...that would also mean that licences tied to a specific gen console,should go away. I think the legacy games should be preserved,it is worth to save an era of past gaming. Alot can be learnt,avoided and enjoyed.

MS and Xbox gone in the right direction but its far away from being ideal...plenty of OG Xbox are not BC,X360 games too.

I dont want only to read about old games,i want to be able to play them.

As long as i have my old consoles,i am fine but one day they will eventually stop working and old gen consoles in good shape to buy are a rarity

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Radar

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I wonder what this means for old PS+ games on the PS3.

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paperwarior17

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I wish someone would have told me the store for those was still accessible. I thought it was gone since they launched the new one.

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kintoneo

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@paperwarior17: When they launched the new store with the PS5 release, they removed the ability to buy PS3 & Vita games via the website. But you can still buy PS3 & Vita games via console-based store only, until they shut down the console-based stores entirely in a few months.

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kintoneo

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I just wish they would do a big closeout sale like 80% off everything. A good friend of mine convinced me not to give them anymore of my money for PS3 stuff & just mod the thing.

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Carpetfluff

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They didn't 'quietly' do anything. They announced they were going to do it and did so. Typical GS attempt to make something seem shadier than it is. I think we fully understand some people will be upset by the move, but don't try to put more spin on it than necessary.

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djape_boss

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@Carpetfluff: I used to come daily to Gamespot and read news, but in the last year or so I came here once a month... such a clickbait shitty site its become

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dlM0kn

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R.I.P. those copies of Shin Megami Tensei DDS2 and FES

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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Where's Johnny?

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tsunami2311

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There new Web interface mirros the devices interface for buy and searching stuff, which horrible in first place. 1 step forward 2 steps back.

Ps4 took 2~3? years to get folders on home page? just for ps5 to not have them, so istead all my game in 1 folder show on my home page and catagorized as Owned/PS+ games folder it litters my home page with all my games that installed.

I have no issue with them being bought only on system is used on but web site need to have them all, but this new interface website is using gotta go, give us back the old interface it was much easier to find what we were looking for

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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The writing has been on the wall for years, now. These devices are getting retired. This shouldn't be surprising. Two plus generations or older is pretty old. Can't blame them for closing the stores for old devices. Time to move on.

And it's not like the rest of the big 3 doesn't end support. MS shut down the original Xbox store and we all know about Nintendo.

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gamerboy100

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@Barighm: "And it's not like the rest of the big 3 doesn't end support. MS shut down the original Xbox store and we all know about Nintendo."

What are you talking about? The Xbox 360 store is still running.

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Faellin

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@Barighm:

The issue is they haven't made a huge effort to make PS3 games playable on modern hardware. No backwards compatability for PS3 games, PSnow having a pretty limited library of games from that console (Seriously they don't even have the ratchet and clank HD remasters on it), and haven't been actively porting many over in general.

And they wonder why people pirate their games... Because THEY don't make their older library more accessable without having to resort to it.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@Faellin: Okay. Not really relevant to what I said, but okay. For the most part, I agree there is no good reason why PS1 and 2 emulation has been with held, but I understand the lack of PS3 support and it's not like Sony didn't try with PS Now.

My point was nobody should be surprised that this is happening. We're talking about three long dead consoles. They've been shutting things down for a while now.

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