PlayStation Reverses Course on PS3 and PS Vita Store Shutdown

In a very surprising turn of events, PlayStation has announced that it won't be closing down the PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita platforms later this year as it originally intended. Sony Interactive Entertainment head Jim Ryan informed fans via the PlayStation Blog today that this decision was one that the company decided to change its mind on after a large swath of PlayStation owners made their displeasure heard about the move in recent weeks.

"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, "Ryan explained in the blog post. "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 move is one that specifically comes as a bit of a shock as, in recent years, Sony has garnered a bit of a reputation for not listening to its fans in instances just like this. To see the publisher run back this decision is one that will surely bring about goodwill with many fans who still enjoy using their older platforms from time to time.

It is worth noting, however, that the storefront on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) will shut down as planned later this year on July 2, 2021. That being said, the library of the PSP itself shouldn't be going away as a whole since all of those titles are forward compatible on Vita. Essentially, if you're looking to buy and play Vita game moving forward, Vita should become your new home.

So what do you think about this announcement from Sony? Personally speaking, I am thrilled to see that they've changed their minds on this matter. Hopefully, the Vita and PS3 stores will continue to exist well into the future at this point.

Feel free to share your own thoughts with me either down in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12.