Sony Walks Back PS3/Vita Purchase Shutdown

The PlayStation brand has been having a time of it lately. Though to be fair, most of that has been self-inflicted. While the latest controversy is a matter of internal clock shenanigans that might be tougher to address, the previous issue is being reversed.

That issue is, of course, the planned downscaling on the PlayStation Store. It’s still happening to the PSP, but for now the PS3 and Vita marketplaces will keep going.

Sony Walks Back PS3/Vita Purchase Shutdown

It didn’t take long for the gaming community to get super upset about Sony’s plan to sunset purchases on the PS3 and Vita marketplaces. Customers were still gonna be able to download software they had previously purchased, but all new purchases of any kind were on the chopping block.

And since backwards compatibility isn’t a thing for those two platforms, a lot of games and content was going to effectively vanish. 

Backlash doesn’t always inspire a corporate change of plans, but much like Microsoft’s bizarre attempt to change its pricing on Xbox Live Gold, Sony has opted to ride the bad PR wave backwards instead of doubling down. While the PSP’s shop is still biting the dust, Sony will keep PS3 and Vita purchasing alive for the foreseeable future.

This has been a really hot button topic over the weeks, particularly because shutting the PS3 and Vita stores down would be the first major shutdown of its kind in gaming history.

Since downloadable content and even games really took off during the PS3 generation, many in the community were lamenting the loss of games like Tokyo Jungle, which were never made available anywhere else. It even caused those PlayStation Network compilation discs (the one with Tokyo Jungle especially) to skyrocket in price on the secondhand market.

Related: Sony Confirms PS3, PSP and Vita Store Shutdown

This whole ordeal seems to have been a bit of a wakeup call for the gaming community, since historical preservation in games has been a growing, but still niche interest. The outcry here really made a lot of noise, more so than I think anyone (Sony included) expected.

For now, this sunset has been delayed. But perhaps outside preservation efforts may increase now that the finish line was so tangibly close.

Related: PS5 April Update Brings PS5 Storage Expansion, Cross-Gen Share Play, More

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