Earlier this year, Sony announced that it had plans to shut down the digital storefronts for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable (PSP), and PlayStation Vita. Following an outcry from fans in response to this decision, Sony ended up largely running back this plan and revealed that it would keep the PS3 and Vita marketplaces open in perpetuity. As for the PSP, however, this storefront would still be disappearing later this summer. And as of now, that time has come to pass.
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Sony officially shut down the digital store on the PSP within the past few days, bringing an end to an era for the original PlayStation handheld platform. In response to this move, some fans have been confused on what exactly this means for PSP games as a whole moving forward. After all, buying PSP games directly through the handheld wasn’t the only way that these titles could be purchased.
Rather than making PSP games as a whole unavailable, this closure will solely just affect the native storefront that is actually on the PSP. As such, PSP titles which might be available to buy via the PS3 or PlayStation Vita (which is the PSP’s follow-up handheld) will still remain open to purchase for the foreseeable future.
It’s also worth noting that if you have bought games through your PSP in the past, you’ll still be available to download all of these titles well into the future. The storefront’s closure purely means that you can’t buy anything else through the platform. Games that may have already been in your library will remain there for the long haul.
As a whole, it’s a bit saddening to see the PSP store shut down even if its library of games will still be made available in other manners. If nothing else, it’s reflective of how dated the platform has become, even though in my own mind, it doesn’t feel that old. But hey, I guess that’s just how time works.
So how do you feel about seeing the PSP store finally reach its end? And did you happen to purchase anything new on the marketplace prior to this closure? Let me know down in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12.
