New PlayStation Report Could Spell Doom for PS Store on PS3

A new report tied to PlayStation could be the first indication that the PlayStation Store on PS3 consoles is set to shut down in the future. Back in 2021, Sony announced that it was going to shut down its digital storefront on PS3, which proved to be hugely unpopular with fans. So much so, in fact, that Sony eventually undid this decision, which has continued to make the PS Store available on the legacy PlayStation console up until today. And while Sony has since made no new announcement to end the PS Store for good on PS3, new information that has come to light might push the company to now move forward with a closure.

According to @millieamand, who has shared a handful of accurate PlayStation scoops in the past, active users on PS3 consoles have started to rapidly fall in 2026. While there were still over one million active users on PS3 at the start of this year, that number has dipped by over 75%, as March was said to only boast 240,000 users globally. As for the reason behind this quick decline in PS3 users, the Netflix app on the console became inaccessible at the start of March. Clearly, this app was one that many worldwide still used, as its end of service directly correlated with PS3 users plummeting.

With so few people now using the PS3 on a monthly basis, there’s a pretty good chance that Sony will look to finally close the PS Store on the platform. Even though it reversed course on its plan to shut the marketplace down in 2021, it has continued to be clear that the PS Store on PS3 is on borrowed time. Keeping the PS Store live on PS3 costs Sony money, so if there aren’t nearly as many users at this point, it becomes that much easier to justify shutting it down to save a few bucks.

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Again, it’s worth stressing that no such decision has been announced by Sony just yet, and there’s no guarantee that the PS Store for PS3 will go away anytime soon. Still, if PS3 usage continues to fall even further in the months ahead, there’s a good chance that Sony will start to finally wind down the console’s remaining services. When and if this does actually happen, we’ll be sure to bring you the news here on ComicBook.

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