Sony has announced that it’ll be keeping its PS3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefront open “for the foreseeable future.” The PSP’s store will still be shut down on July 2nd, 2021, as originally planned.
Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan wrote in a blog post that, after more reflection on the planned PS3 and Vita store closures, “it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here. So today I’m happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices.”
Ryan said that Sony initially made the call for several reasons, including being able to place more focus on platforms where most of its users are currently playing games, such as PlayStation 4 and PS5. He also cited “commerce support challenges” for older systems.
“We see now that many of you are incredibly passionate about being able to continue purchasing classic games on PS3 and PS Vita for the foreseeable future, so I’m glad we were able to find a solution to continue operations,” Ryan added.
The move to close the PlayStation Store on PS3 and Vita was met with a backlash from many fans. It’s impossible to play many PS3 or Vita games on PS4 or PS5, unless they’re on PlayStation Now or have been re-released on PS4. That led to concerns that many games would no longer be available to buy anywhere if the stores were removed. Sony’s decision also came as a surprise to Vita developers, who faced either rushing to finish games to release them before the store closed or abandoning projects entirely.
