Sony PlayStation 3 and Vita stores to stay open after July in U-turn

(Image credit: Sony)

published 21 April 2021

Sony’s Playstation Store will not be closing this summer for PS3 and Vita users, as originally planned. As we reported last month, the PS3 store was due to close on July 2, 2021 with the Vita store to follow suit on August 27, 2021. However, in a post on the PlayStation Blog, Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment admitted that they had made the wrong decision and the stores would remain operational. The PSP store, however, will close as planned on July 2, 2021.

In his post, Ryan recognized the passion that gamers still have for these platforms and that users could continue to purchase these classic games for the foreseeable future. Adding, “I’m glad that we can keep this piece of our history alive for gamers to enjoy, while we continue to create cutting-edge new game worlds for PS4, PS5, and the next generation of VR.”

It looks like PlayStation has received a lot of negative feedback to these store closures and it’s great to see a company of this size responding to its customers. While the availability of the PS5 remains scarce, it’s difficult to convince users to upgrade, so taking away part of their gaming experience is only likely to push them on to another platform.

While no new timescale has been mentioned, the time is still bound to come on these stores sooner or later. The original closure was in an effort to focus resources on new products and as less remain on the older platforms, there will come a time when it’s no longer viable. For now, though, we’re happy to keep enjoying some classic FIFA and Gran Turismo in peace.

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As T3's Editor-in-Chief, Mat Gallagher has his finger on the pulse for the latest advances in technology. He has written about technology since 2003 and after stints in Beijing, Hong Kong and Chicago is now based in the UK. He’s a true lover of gadgets, but especially anything that involves cameras, Apple, electric cars, musical instruments or travel.