The PlayStation Store will end its support for the PS3, PS Vita and PlayStation Portable (PSP) soon by July and August. With that said, the three consoles will no longer be able to purchase games from the online store.
For players who have plans to buy games for the said consoles, now might be the best time to do it.
PlayStation Support No More
TheGamer reported from unnamed sources that Sony's PlayStation Store for PS3, PS Vita and PSP be closing starting July, with the official announcement possiblycoming at the end of March. PSP and PS3 PlayStaion Stores are scheduled to close on July 2, while the PS Vita will stay open until August 27.
Unfortunately, after those dates have passed, digital copies of games or DLC for any of the above-mentioned Sony consoles will no longer be available.
This is not the first time Sony has decided to discontinue its support for older consoles. When the purchase rate decreases and the technology gets outdated, most companies let go of old products to concentrate on the new ones. PSP, PS3, and PS Vita have unfortunately lived out their production date.
PSP, PS Vita and PS3
PSP was one of the earliest handheld consoles released in March 2005. It boasted sales of around 81 million units during its lifetime. It was a popular console that was marketed for kids who want a lot of mobility. The machine also featured diverse utility with its multimedia features such as image galleries and video playback. PSP was considered a portable media player aside from its gaming console functions.
PS Vita succeeded the old PSP with its release in 2012. Having a sale of over 10-15 million, its first-generation consoles featured 5-inch OLED multi-touch capacitive touchscreen technology. The PS Vita's design combined a mobile interface with a high-quality video gaming experience.
PS3., on the other hand, is a home video gaming console that was released in 2006. Succeeding the old PlayStation 2, this console made huge sales, approximately 87 million units in its lifetime. It was the first console to use Blu-ray Disc Technology for its storage medium. It was also the first PlayStation to introduce social gaming services through its PlayStation Network. It lived out as the console of many firsts before being replaced by its successor, PlayStation 4, in November 2013.
PlayStation Store Closing Date and Final Sales
These PlayStation consoles and their games will continue their sale until their final date. Their availability, however, depends on the stores' stocks. Any unavailable stocks would be marked as permanently sold out.
For those who want to download a specific game for any of the three consoles, now is the time to do it. Prices might rise when the copies of these games stop in production and the stores would cease to exist. Technical support also gets harder to find the closer the final date comes.
