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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 Chesnot/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) /

An uncertain future

There’s precedent for this very thing happening in the games industry. When Nintendo released the New Nintendo 3DS, select games were available exclusively on the new handheld, including Xenoblade Chronicles, Hyrule Warriors, and… Earthbound? The Super Nintendo virtual console that was available on the Wii and Wii U became available to go but only on the newest handheld.

But it’s also gone the other way, again with Nintendo. When the Switch released, the Big N did away with the virtual console altogether, and instead lumped access to classic retro titles in with a subscription to their online service. It’s an imperfect solution to the problem of playing old games on the newest system (*cough*N64 and GameCube games when?*cough*), but an imperfect solution is better than no solution.

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That’s what Sony is currently presenting us with: no solution to a problem of their own design.

The optimist in me wants to believe it’s because in lieu of games that are inevitably going to be delayed because of the pandemic. A brand new AAA game means the world to a brand new console, but providing a buffet of nostalgia is a haymaker in itself. The only thing better than your next favorite game is all your favorite games made after 1994.

The pessimist in me is worried that Sony is nixing the only legal ways to experience its own history, a history that was so important to the PlayStation 5 pack-in game Astro’s Playroom, just for the sake of nixing it. “We don’t want to be stuck in the past, we want to look towards our future” is a press release line I can imagine myself reading in the coming months as these games disappear.

I’m a writer, so obviously, the pessimist in me is winning.

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