PS3 and Xbox 360 Classic Will Soon Be Unavailable to Buy

PlayStation and Xbox fans will soon be unable to buy a PS3 and Xbox 360 classic digitally, which means it's about to be impossible to buy the game brand new. The good news is you will still be able to buy used copies of the game on reseller sites or vintage game stores, however, prices for used copies of the game could soon skyrocket with the announcement that its digital versions are being yanked. As for the game it's Soulcalibur V from developer Project Soul and publisher Bandai Namco.

The news has been relayed by Bandai Namco via the official Soulcalibur Twitter account, which announced that the game will be "sunset" on PS3 and Xbox 360 on June 19, 2023, which is just next Monday. As a result, the base game, and every bit of DLC for it, will no longer be available to purchase.

Why is the game being sunset? We don't know, but it's presumably a licensing issue or just a cost issue. Games can be removed from sale for other reasons, but more often than not, it's for one of these two reasons. 

"Valiant Warriors – Soulcalibur V is taking its final curtain call on the stage of history and will be sunset on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 19, 2023," reads the official and very brief statement. "The base game and all associated DLC will no longer be available for purchase. Thank you for your continued support."

This announcement would be harder to swallow if the game was backward compatible on Xbox One or PS4 or Xbox Series X|S or PS5, but it's not. It's been stranded on the Xbox 360 and PS3, which means it's been difficult to play. As a result, not many play it in the present day. 

Debuting back on January 31, 2012, Soulcalibur V is the sixth mainline installment in the long-running and popular Soulcalibur fighting game series. Upon release, the game was largely praised for its gameplay and character creator, but was docked points for the removal of its story mode and scrapping some other fan-favorite features and content. All of this resulted in it garnering scores of 77 and 81 on Metacritic, depending on the platform.