Sony Quietly Kills Off PlayStation Web Store For PS3, PSP, And Vita Games

Sony has quietly killed an old web version of the PlayStation Store that let people buy games on discontinued consoles. This has provoked a backlash from fans who preferred to use the web interface over the devices themselves.

Back in late 2020, Sony revamped its web and mobile-based PlayStation Store and removed the option to buy PS3, PSP, and Vita games, as well as nuking the wishlist feature. As Eurogamer notes, determined fans were able to buy PS3, PSP, and Vita content and view their wishlists through a region-specific URL. Over the weekend, however, ResetEra users noticed that the URL has stopped working entirely, redirecting instead to the new PlayStation Store, which only allows users to purchase PS4 and PS5 games.

Though users can still buy PS3, Vita, and PSP games on the devices themselves, this news is particularly troubling for some fans of those platforms. That's because a recent report from TheGamer claimed that the PS3, Vita, and PSP storefronts will be permanently closed later this summer. [Update: This has now been confirmed, and Sony will shut down these PlayStation stores this summer.] Though those claims have remained unverified by Sony or other parties, it has still led fans to worry that they will no longer be able to buy new games on their beloved old platforms. Sony isn't shy about removing features from its consoles--it recently shut down the PlayStation Communities feature on PS4.