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PSN: The PS3, Vita and PSP digital store closure is only terrible (or great)

By George Loftus

COLOGNE, GERMANY - AUGUST 19: The newly presented Sony Playstation PS3 'Slim' is seen during the 'gamescom', Europe's biggest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment on August 19, 2009 in Cologne, Germany. The inaugural gamescom in Cologne is a five-day games expo for consumers and trade. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
COLOGNE, GERMANY - AUGUST 19: The newly presented Sony Playstation PS3 'Slim' is seen during the 'gamescom', Europe's biggest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment on August 19, 2009 in Cologne, Germany. The inaugural gamescom in Cologne is a five-day games expo for consumers and trade. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images) /

Now let’s talk about why this is great news.

The storefronts on PSP, PS3, and Vita were all terrible. Like actual garbage. They were buggy, confusing, and difficult to navigate. Even though the PS3 store was updated to better resemble the (slightly improved) PS4 storefront, it was still a pain point that frequent users like myself didn’t enjoy dealing with. The stores weren’t broken, but they were just barely not broken.

Sony’s extended history is available online, there’s no way that’s just going to go away, it can’t, that’d be insane. All these games are currently available, what’s the point in just shelving them? There isn’t, which is why the most wide-eyed optimist in me is hoping that they’re taking down the store because there’s no point in supporting these games on legacy consoles anymore when they could support them on the PlayStation 5.

Microsoft is currently crushing it with Xbox Game Pass. Sony’s nearest analogue is a streaming service for older games and the ability to download modern games directly to your console called PlayStation Now. The service is fine, mileage varies depending on your opinion of the game selection and how good your internet connection is.

While I’d personally prefer the games be available natively on PS5, what if PlayStation One games started dropping on PlayStation Now? What if PSP games could be played on your smartphone with a paired controller? What if PlayStation 3 games didn’t depend on Comcast or Spectrum? What if I didn’t start hyperventilating at the thought of playing Killzone Mercenary on my laptop?

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