Sony to keep PlayStation 3 and Vita stores open in screeching U-turn: ‘We made the wrong decision’
Resistance: Fall of Man was one of the PS3 launch titles (Insomniac / Sony)
Sony have U-turned and announced the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Vita digital stores will remain switched on after all.
The company previously announced that the digital stores for these consoles would be taken down this summer, presumably to focus more on PS4 and PS5 resources.
However, they were met with considerable criticism from fans and media alike and have now reneged the decision.
The PSP store, though, will still close on 2 July as originally planned.
Jim Ryan, President and CEO, broke the news on the PlayStation Blog.
“Upon further reflection, however, it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here,” he admits.
“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.
“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.”
The company was criticised for not supporting older systems and the question of game preservation was repeatedly brought up in the media.
While many games from the stores are available on later consoles or other platforms, games that were exclusive to the PS3 and Vita would no longer be available at all.
Developers have been scrambling to port their games over, or admit defeat.
Some games released physically have even skyrocketed in price on eBay, like the collection Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1 that includes two exclusive games.
This decision from Sony on the PlayStation 3 and Vita digital stores is a prime example of the company listening and acting upon fan feedback, which they’ve been praised for following this turnaround.
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