Sony stated on Monday that the PlayStation Store would remain open for the PS3 and PS Vita, reversing a decision that had many users worried about the future of their digital material on the older consoles.
It’s obvious we made the incorrect choice here,” PlayStation Blog post author and head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan remarked. Ryan has confirmed that the PS3 and PS Vita, which were released in 2006 and 2011, will continue to have access to the PlayStation Store.
“When we first came to the decision to end purchasing support for PS3 and PS Vita, it was born out of a number of factors,” Ryan explained, “including commerce support challenges for older devices and the ability for us to focus more of our resources on newer devices where the majority of our gamers are playing on.” “I’m delighted we were able to find a solution to continue operations, as we can now see that many of you are really passionate about being able to continue purchasing classic games on PS3 and PS Vita for the foreseeable future.”
However, the PlayStation Portable’s online shop (which debuted in 2004) will indeed be shut down on July 2, 2021. The selection of products available to PSP owners was severely restricted, to begin with (on a platform that has not been supported since 2014.)
Concerned PS3 and PS Vita owners were reassured that all previously purchased content could still be downloaded for both platforms after Sony confirmed the shutdown at the end of March. However, they would be unable to access those features in the game itself, even if they still owned and liked the base game, if they had not purchased the supplemental DLC for the game.
Players could no longer use those devices to redeem gift cards, and the funds in their PSN wallet accounts could be used for nothing except the purchase of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games.
