Reddit reacts to Sony’s major PlayStation announcement: ‘This really sucks’

Sony will be shutting down the PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita this year. The upcoming closure marks the end of an era.

Earlier in the year, sources told TheGamer that the PS3, PSP and would all be losing access to the PlayStation Store. Sony has recently confirmed the news on its support site, as reported by The Verge.

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The closures will happen at different dates for each device as follows. The PS3 and PSP will lose access to the PlayStation Store on July 2 and the Vita will also lose access on August 27.

Basically, this means that you can’t get any new content for those devices. That includes games, videos and DLC. Your gift cards for the PS3, Vita and PSP will also be voided but your wallet funds will remain unchanged.

However, you can still re-download anything you’ve bought prior to the store shutdowns including what you claimed through the PlayStation Plus program.

You can read the full list of upcoming changes here.

Perhaps this was inevitable. The question of whether or not consumers really “own” games nowadays has been a major discussion within the industry for over a decade now. Video games are increasingly moving towards digital stores and away from brick-and-mortar stores.

Digital games are convenient but they’re also bound by the whims of the corporations that make them. With the PlayStation Store disappearing on Sony’s older consoles, future audiences will be locked out of classic libraries.

On Reddit, users have been scrambling together lists of recommended games to buy as the closing dates draw near. They also shared their thoughts on what this means for video games and the future.

“Sorry for being dramatic, but everyone who has a digital-only PS5 should be reading this and understand that this is going to be the future of their system,” one user said. “This really sucks.”

“I just want backwards compatability [sic],” another said. “Sony has released so many amazing games over the years. Is it that much to ask for?”

Some other Redditors weren’t bothered by the shutdown. Media preservation is a gargantuan endeavor. The vast majority of films produced before the 1950s have been lost forever. Video games may not fare so differently.

“The amount of work dedicated to game preservation and ensuring stuff is available after stores shut down is, like, ridiculously f****** bigger than the likelihood of finding obscure or older games on physical media at a reasonable price,” one Redditor said. “If you wanted to play SWAT 4, for example (before it got added to GOG), you could either download a pirated version, or pay literally triple digit prices for a boxed copy.”

All good things must come to an end — even video games. If you own a PS3, PSP or Vita, be sure to grab your must-have titles while you can.

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