Sony shutting down PSP store for good, but PS3 and Vita will live on

Bad news for PlayStation Portable fans: Sony is shutting down the online store for its original gaming handheld on July 2, 2021. But in a twist, Sony reversed its previously stated plans to also shutter the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita stores.

The initial plan, revealed at the end of March, had put all three platforms on the chopping block. The release of the PS5 in late 2020 officially turned the PS3, released in 2006, from a "last-gen" console into a vintage one. As for the Vita, it's still Sony's latest (and greatest) hardware for on-the-go gaming — with more than a few titles that aren't available anywhere else — but it's also an aging device, having been released in 2011.

Fans responded negatively when the news surfaced that all three stores would shut down, and on April 19 Sony made public its decision to reverse at least some of that plan. "Upon further reflection, however, it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here," said a blog post attributed to Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan. "So today I’m happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices."

Ryan goes on to explain some of the reasoning behind the decision. It sounds like people were just very vocal in expressing their dissatisfaction with the decision. He doesn't come out and say it explicitly, but I wouldn't be surprised if sales of older games on PS3 and Vita suddenly spiked as people scrambled to pick up titles that would soon be rendered inaccessible.

"When we initially came to the decision to end purchasing support for PS3 and PS Vita, it was born out of a number of factors, including commerce support challenges for older devices and the ability for us to focus more of our resources on newer devices where a majority of our gamers are playing on," the post reads. "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."

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When it comes to the Vita specifically, don't misread the intent here. There's no indication that Sony is recommitting to its soon-to-be-only mobile gaming hardware. Production of the Vita ended in 2019. But keeping the store alive — at least for the time being — ensures that one-of-a-kind Vita releases won't simply disappear from existence. Vita games can't be adapted as easily for newer devices because that handheld sported some unique-to-Sony-hardware features, including touchscreen controls.

That said, Sony hasn't shown any inclination in recent years toward competing in the mobile gaming domain, which is pretty much locked down by smartphones and tablets these days. Nintendo is the only one of the big three console makers (with Sony and Microsoft) that has on-the-go gaming figured out. So the news that the Vita store will get to live on, at least for now, is genuinely exciting.

There's a PlayStation support site with more information about what's ahead, though as of this writing it still needs to be updated to reflect this latest change. Still, it's reasonable to expect that none of the other details surrounding the store closure — now just one, not multiple — will change. So PSP owners will still be able to access and play any game that they own already, or that they purchase prior to the July 2 shutdown.

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That applies to any owned video content as well. Old redemption codes you may have for games or PlayStation Plus will also still work, and any PS Plus games you've previously claimed as part of an active subscription will remain tied to your account as well.

The timing of this news means people who own a working PSP (or who want to go buy one) have several months of lead time to pick up whatever last games before the store closes. And who knows, maybe one day some of the to-be-lost titles will resurface on Sony's cloud gaming service (think Stadia), PlayStation Now.

UPDATE: April 19, 2021, 4:15 p.m. EDT An earlier version of this story detailed Sony's plans to shut down all three of the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita stores. We've now updated the story throughout, following Sony's April 19 announcement to reflect the change in plans.