Rumor: PS3, PSP, and PS Vita online stores shutting down soon

[Nicholas]

He is preaching straight up gospel when he gets to the emulation part of the video, exactly what I've been saying for years.

[Death]

Confirmation. And details for what exactly is happening. It's exactly what you expect. You can still re-download your stuff for now, but now new purchases.

https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/suppo ... nt-notice/

Good to have official confirmation, but it's so lame. 14.5 years for PS3 and under 10 for Vita.

The ability to redownload is expected for now, but there might be some issues since not everything appears in your download list on PS3 (some DLC for example only shows the Season Pass or 1 DLC pack in your download list with the rest having to be downloaded through the Store app) and the Vita doesn't have a download list. I guess the store apps will still be accessible and searchable, just that you'll get an error if you try to buy anything after the cut-off dates.

As with all delistings, it sucks the most for anyone that hasn't bought X game/DLC before the shutdown of purchases. Did you recently discover a cool looking game from 2010 that was digital-only and PS3-only? Too bad, you can't buy it now. You can go and buy some Atari 2600 game from 1977 though and it'll work fine. Or I guess you can soft-mod a PS3 and pirate it, because piracy provides more longevity and a better service than Sony.

Sony's also shutting down the messaging system on Vita from June 28, 2021 onwards. A lot of games with multiplayer on Vita that don't have dedicated matchmaking use the system's messaging feature to invite other players into your game. It's unconfirmed right now, but it likely means that all of the games that used that will lose their multiplayer functionality once it's shutdown.

For the Players and Play Has No Limits indeed.

[Nicholas]

Confirmation. And details for what exactly is happening. It's exactly what you expect. You can still re-download your stuff for now, but now new purchases.

https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/suppo ... nt-notice/

Good to have official confirmation, but it's so lame. 14.5 years for PS3 and under 10 for Vita.

The ability to redownload is expected for now, but there might be some issues since not everything appears in your download list on PS3 (some DLC for example only shows the Season Pass or 1 DLC pack in your download list with the rest having to be downloaded through the Store app) and the Vita doesn't have a download list. I guess the store apps will still be accessible and searchable, just that you'll get an error if you try to buy anything after the cut-off dates.

As with all delistings, it sucks the most for anyone that hasn't bought X game/DLC before the shutdown of purchases. Did you recently discover a cool looking game from 2010 that was digital-only and PS3-only? Too bad, you can't buy it now. You can go and buy some Atari 2600 game from 1977 though and it'll work fine. Or I guess you can soft-mod a PS3 and pirate it, because piracy provides more longevity and a better service than Sony.

Sony's also shutting down the messaging system on Vita from June 28, 2021 onwards. A lot of games with multiplayer on Vita that don't have dedicated matchmaking use the system's messaging feature to invite other players into your game. It's unconfirmed right now, but it likely means that all of the games that used that will lose their multiplayer functionality once it's shutdown.

For the Players and Play Has No Limits indeed.

As I said, everything this affects is the old way of doing things, The PS4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles are all from an era that is more like gaming PCs where you have one store and generations are not like the old ways.

Does this suck? Yes. But that's why I am advocating just hacking your old system and downloading stuff for this reason, they just want to sell the new stuff and you have no moral obligation to pay for stuff they are not trying to sell you. Don't give $200 to Joe on Ebay because you think you are being "right" if you don't care about that physical copy, just play the game.

[Nicholas]

You'll never catch me with ExpressVPN. Save 50% on your first 3 months by entering JOKERPROTECTS.

(Also for music, just subscribe to Spotify or Youtube Premium, it really isn't worth jumping through hoops over music nowadays).

[Kahhhhyle]

Just a PSA again.

This from the OLD era of consoles, the new consoles are essentially gaming PCs and they are going to be building a digital library as they run on PC architecture now. The Series X/S are literally just better Xbox Ones and the PS5 is a better PS4 with a new menu and controller.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

For what it's worth I agree that you're more then likely right this will be the case... That said you really can't say it for sure. Despite what all the PC people will tell you not all games just work from 15 years ago. Try downloading and playing Fallout 3 without modding it...

Confirmation. And details for what exactly is happening. It's exactly what you expect. You can still re-download your stuff for now, but now new purchases.

https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/suppo ... nt-notice/

Good to have official confirmation, but it's so lame. 14.5 years for PS3 and under 10 for Vita.

The ability to redownload is expected for now, but there might be some issues since not everything appears in your download list on PS3 (some DLC for example only shows the Season Pass or 1 DLC pack in your download list with the rest having to be downloaded through the Store app) and the Vita doesn't have a download list. I guess the store apps will still be accessible and searchable, just that you'll get an error if you try to buy anything after the cut-off dates.

As with all delistings, it sucks the most for anyone that hasn't bought X game/DLC before the shutdown of purchases. Did you recently discover a cool looking game from 2010 that was digital-only and PS3-only? Too bad, you can't buy it now. You can go and buy some Atari 2600 game from 1977 though and it'll work fine. Or I guess you can soft-mod a PS3 and pirate it, because piracy provides more longevity and a better service than Sony.

Sony's also shutting down the messaging system on Vita from June 28, 2021 onwards. A lot of games with multiplayer on Vita that don't have dedicated matchmaking use the system's messaging feature to invite other players into your game. It's unconfirmed right now, but it likely means that all of the games that used that will lose their multiplayer functionality once it's shutdown.

For the Players and Play Has No Limits indeed.

Just out of curiosity how long do you think is a reasonable span of time to keep the online stores active for these older consoles?

[Kahhhhyle]

Anybody have recommendations for a hard drive to get to download all muh stuff?

And while we're at it any games you guys think are digital only must haves for these systems?

[Death]

Just a PSA again.

This from the OLD era of consoles, the new consoles are essentially gaming PCs and they are going to be building a digital library as they run on PC architecture now. The Series X/S are literally just better Xbox Ones and the PS5 is a better PS4 with a new menu and controller.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

For what it's worth I agree that you're more then likely right this will be the case... That said you really can't say it for sure. Despite what all the PC people will tell you not all games just work from 15 years ago. Try downloading and playing Fallout 3 without modding it...

It's not just on PC either. There's a handful of PS4 games that don't run on PS5 at all and there's others that do run but have various issues only on PS5. For example: Agents of Mayhem crashes if you turn on HDR, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate has a lot of shadow flickering, Dying Light has some crashing issues with certain side missions, Fallout 4 has some minor flickering artefacts across the top of the screen at all times, and a bunch of the emulated PS2 titles (like Ape Escape 2, Manhunt, Okage: Shadow King, Primal and The Warriors) have texture- and interface-related issues like constant flickering and text being unreadable.

Microsoft seems to be handling compatibility much better than Sony since I haven't seen lists compiled of Xbox Series X-specific issues for Xbox One games and a bunch of the ones that do have issues on PS5 don't have them on Series X. Though even Microsoft doesn't offer 100% compatibility due to the lack of support for Kinect on XSX (not a big deal, sure, but still notable if you're aiming to be a complete replacement for the older console).

Just out of curiosity how long do you think is a reasonable span of time to keep the online stores active for these older consoles?

For at least as long as they're still hosting the content to allow re-downloads.

At the end of the day though, it's a DRM-riddled, monopolistic console store with no secondary market. Soft-modding, unofficial emulation and piracy are the only solutions for long term accessibility because Sony isn't interested in keeping its legacy content available for people who still want it or may newly discover it years down the line. It's also not interested in bringing them forward because, according to Jim Ryan, backward compatibility is barely used by players (which is probably true when you're charging for them again instead of allowing people to use their existing PS2 discs or digital PS2 purchases from PS3).

[Nicholas]

Just a PSA again.

This from the OLD era of consoles, the new consoles are essentially gaming PCs and they are going to be building a digital library as they run on PC architecture now. The Series X/S are literally just better Xbox Ones and the PS5 is a better PS4 with a new menu and controller.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

For what it's worth I agree that you're more then likely right this will be the case... That said you really can't say it for sure. Despite what all the PC people will tell you not all games just work from 15 years ago. Try downloading and playing Fallout 3 without modding it...

It's not just on PC either. There's a handful of PS4 games that don't run on PS5 at all and there's others that do run but have various issues only on PS5. For example: Agents of Mayhem crashes if you turn on HDR, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate has a lot of shadow flickering, Dying Light has some crashing issues with certain side missions, Fallout 4 has some minor flickering artefacts across the top of the screen at all times, and a bunch of the emulated PS2 titles (like Ape Escape 2, Manhunt, Okage: Shadow King, Primal and The Warriors) have texture- and interface-related issues like constant flickering and text being unreadable.

Microsoft seems to be handling compatibility much better than Sony since I haven't seen lists compiled of Xbox Series X-specific issues for Xbox One games and a bunch of the ones that do have issues on PS5 don't have them on Series X. Though even Microsoft doesn't offer 100% compatibility due to the lack of support for Kinect on XSX (not a big deal, sure, but still notable if you're aiming to be a complete replacement for the older console).

Just out of curiosity how long do you think is a reasonable span of time to keep the online stores active for these older consoles?

For at least as long as they're still hosting the content to allow re-downloads.

At the end of the day though, it's a DRM-riddled, monopolistic console store with no secondary market. Soft-modding, unofficial emulation and piracy are the only solutions for long term accessibility because Sony isn't interested in keeping its legacy content available for people who still want it or may newly discover it years down the line. It's also not interested in bringing them forward because, according to Jim Ryan, backward compatibility is barely used by players (which is probably true when you're charging for them again instead of allowing people to use their existing PS2 discs or digital PS2 purchases from PS3).

Yeah, I forgot about some games not being compatible on PS5 and that is really stupid. Assassins Creed Syndicate is great and you'll now have to buy a PS4 to enjoy it if you decide one day it looks interesting and want to play it...that's not cool. I hope Sony fixes this because I bet this is on THEIR end with compatibility issues. How is a random game like AC Syndicate even incompatible?! As I said in "should next gen have been delayed" thread, Sony wasn't ready, it was Xbox that had their stuff together. They just released literally better Xbox Ones and that was that, sure Halo Infinite was delayed, but you got a much better Xbox One much like how you upgrade a PC to get a much better PC. I view this generation as a PC upgrade at the end of the day rather than an old-school style hard transition. The PS5 is mostly this, but some bizarre few compatibility issues make me go "what?!".

I am not a fanboy of anything, I just call things as I see it. If you asked me which console would be my only one, as in literally the only thing I own that can play current AAA games, I'd need to sit down and weigh between Xbox Series X and PS5. Both are amazing and I like the games and features from both. I initially said PS5 in my "only console you can have" thread, but I then started talking about Series X. I'm just not sure. Both are amazing. It's just about what games, features, and services you prefer.

Either way, I'd be happy with either systems for their own reasons which makes the choice incredibly hard for me. Maybe Sony does what Microsoft does and has their exclusives day 1 on PS Now eventually, but as I said, buy what exists now, and not what fantasies you think of for the future. This was one of my main points between the Series S and PS5. Yes, the PS5 Digital is a lot more capable for only $100 more, but as soon as you subscribe to Game Pass and start downloading recent games, that price difference very quickly starts becoming irrelevant, We are not comparing PC vs PC here. If you are able to skip paying $70 for each new game while enjoying hundreds of other games for $15 a month, you are making up that difference in a snap. Just a couple of games and you already made up that difference...

[Kahhhhyle]

It's not just on PC either. There's a handful of PS4 games that don't run on PS5 at all and there's others that do run but have various issues only on PS5. For example: Agents of Mayhem crashes if you turn on HDR, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate has a lot of shadow flickering, Dying Light has some crashing issues with certain side missions, Fallout 4 has some minor flickering artefacts across the top of the screen at all times, and a bunch of the emulated PS2 titles (like Ape Escape 2, Manhunt, Okage: Shadow King, Primal and The Warriors) have texture- and interface-related issues like constant flickering and text being unreadable.

Microsoft seems to be handling compatibility much better than Sony since I haven't seen lists compiled of Xbox Series X-specific issues for Xbox One games and a bunch of the ones that do have issues on PS5 don't have them on Series X. Though even Microsoft doesn't offer 100% compatibility due to the lack of support for Kinect on XSX (not a big deal, sure, but still notable if you're aiming to be a complete replacement for the older console).

I was fully expecting you to bring up examples of some obscure games I've never heard of, but those are pretty notable exceptions... And weird. Do you know if it's expected to get fixed?

For at least as long as they're still hosting the content to allow re-downloads.

At the end of the day though, it's a DRM-riddled, monopolistic console store with no secondary market. Soft-modding, unofficial emulation and piracy are the only solutions for long term accessibility because Sony isn't interested in keeping its legacy content available for people who still want it or may newly discover it years down the line. It's also not interested in bringing them forward because, according to Jim Ryan, backward compatibility is barely used by players (which is probably true when you're charging for them again instead of allowing people to use their existing PS2 discs or digital PS2 purchases from PS3).

Now I wonder if there a reason these guys like to discontinue purchases ahead of time. Nintendo did the same thing with the Wii Shop Channel... It's prolly something as basic as making sure people don't buy something and not download it and then lose their purchase or something.

[Kahhhhyle]

So apparently there were still a handful of devs working on Vita games (not sure who would think that's a good idea) but these guys didn't get any heads up and found out the same way the rest of us did. The original rumor, and then the confirmation on the blog. That's kind of a bad way to treat your devs... But I gotta say developing for the Vita in 2021 is questionable...

https://www.thegamer.com/meet-the-devel ... s-forever/