As much as we sometimes want them to, nothing lasts forever. Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad, and The Office? They all came and went. Toys R Us as we used to know it? Pour one out. And your favorite pair of socks with an increasingly bigger hole in the heel? Eventually you'll have to toss them in the garbage. In just a few months, we can add PlayStation Store access for various Sony consoles to the mix well.
You will still be access the PlayStation Store to download games and apps onto your
PlayStation 5 and/or PlayStation 4 consoles for a long time to come. But for owners of the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Store will soon be locking them out forever, Sony confirmed in a support document.
While not exactly shocking, there is a bit of minor intrigue to the situation. Sony has since removed information about the
pending closure on its support page, but a visit to the
Wayback Machine reveals the details that were available yesterday. In addition, Sony sent out emails to customers alerting them of the same dates.
"We are closing PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3 consoles on 2nd July 2021 and on PlayStation Vita devices on 27th August 2021. Additionally, the remaining purchase functionality for PSP (PlayStation Portable) will also retire on 2nd July 2021," Sony wrote.
So in less than four months, the PlayStation Store party officially ends for
PS Vita and PSP owners, followed by PS3 owners being shown the door towards the end of August. Not super shocking, since all three systems are pretty old at this point.
While the online store is closing for those consoles, owners will still be able to download and play games they have already purchased. Same goes for video/media content. Additionally, affected owners will still be able to redeem game and PlayStation Plus vouchers.
To that latter point, Sony also notes that affected owners will still be able to re-download and play claimed game titles through PlayStation Plus, as long as they remain a member of the service.