This is the worst possible time to close the PS3, PSP and Vita Stores

For better or worse, Sony has announced that they will be closing down several of their online stores for some of their older systems. The PS3 and PSP stores will be closing on July 2nd. Meanwhile, the Vita stores will be closing August 27th. This means exactly what it sounds like. After those days you will no longer be able to download any games or DLC for these systems. That includes purchasing new items as well as redownloading old purchases in a move that, once again, gets added to my long list of reasons why I prefer to get my games via physical copies.

I don’t like this move but I get it. I mean the PS3 has been around for around 15 years. Things can’t last forever despite my many, many tries to get on the legendary City of Heroes private servers I keep hearing about in whispers (City of Heroes was the greatest MMO of all time, don’t @ me). But was this the best time to do this? Nah.

See, Sony’s having a bit of a problem right now with its newest system, the Playstation 5. It is near impossible to get and has been since the system first dropped. A lot of this has to do with not only production problems but also monstrous scalpers that have taken the pandemic’s uptick in people wanting things to do at home and making money off of it like war profiteers.

Me personally, I’ve had $600 sitting off to the side so that if my time comes, I can snatch one. I check Tom’s Guide every single day to see if I can get one. I’ve waited in Sony queues and helped crash Best Buy sites with frequent refreshes. Every. Damn. Day. Especially writing about video games and attempting to stay relevant. I’d still rather do this than pay a scalper though.

So what does this have to do with the PS3, PSP and Vita? It creates a very negative carrot on a stick. Like the fire on the left side of the screen in some Rayman Legends stages or hearing the music speed up in Mario or…god forbid, when the drowning music starts playing in Sonic the Hedgehog it creates this feeling in us that we gotta move NOW.

There’s a lot of people out there in two camps. You may be an early adopter but I know plenty of people that still use their PS3 and PSP. Heck, the Vita was relevant to the point where I had to get a really sad email from a game developer that their game that was coming out for the Vita had to be cancelled because they wouldn’t be able to have it done in time for the store closure. Working in game retail as long as I did absolutely showed me that people hold on to the older systems for a long time and, honestly, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that. The PS3 had so many great games. Heavenly Sword, 3D Dot Game Heroes, and I will absolutely die for Afrika even though that game made most people die of boredom. If people enjoy it, let them. You ever play Monopoly? That thing’s been around since the 30’s.

The other camp of people are more like people like me who, while I still have my PS3 and Vita, I also have a PS4. I know the PS4 store isn’t closing any time soon but it lets me know it absolutely will at some point. It makes me realize the digital-only games I have are fleeting and one day, if my PS4 ever bricks, I may never be able to play these games again. If you don’t think that’s something valuable to people, bear in mind that before the Scott Pilgrim game got rereleased recently, I was not only being offered several hundred for my PS3 that had the game installed, but I was also rejecting all offers. That’s how valuable it can be to some people.

For both camps of people, this is speeding up the music, making the Tetrinos drop faster and increasing people’s need to get the latest and newest thing. Normally, this would absolutely make sense for a company to do. Forcing panic on potential consumers absolutely works, ask Nintendo.

Why this was the worst possible time to close the PS3, PSP and Vita Stores

By Eric Halliday | Apr 7, 2021