According to a new forum thread on PSN Profiles, a handful of PlayStation 3 titles are no longer pulling patches from Sony servers, meaning players are left with the 1.0 version and are unable to access any post-launch improvements brought about by updates. Those enhancements may include the ability to play online or even earn Trophies, alongside the typical bug fixing process and streamlining of how each game plays. The current list of PS3 titles affected appears to hit specific versions at random, with select territories still able to download patches while others cannot.
For example, members of PSN Profiles report that the EU versions of Battlefield 4, Gran Turismo 5, SOCOM: Special Forces, Twisted Metal, and White Knight Chronicles are no longer automatically triggering updates or when prompted to do so. The list continues with Dead Nation, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and Need for Speed Shift. Again, this only affects the edition released in EU territories.
Across the pond in the US, Dante's Inferno, Need for Speed: The Run, SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals, and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition aren't taking updates either. There is no crossover between the list of PS3 games affected in either territory, so this very much appears to be a regional issue. It also matters whether you opt to play the games digitally or via a physical disc, with the latter option making up most of the list. You can take a look at every PS3 title affected through here, or at least the ones that have been discovered so far.
The worry from hardcore communities now becomes one of whether this issue will spread to further games. One such example would be Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which received a vital post-launch update that allowed you to install the game all at once instead of waiting in between chapters. We have to assume this is just a database error that will be fixed promptly as this flaw gains traction, but it's not the best look for Sony as the closure of the PS3 PS Store nears. As users pick up the digital versions of select titles, they may well find themselves with the base 1.0 version instead of a patched and fully updated game.
Have you encountered any problems with PS3 game patches that aren't currently part of the list? Share your own findings in the comments below.
[source forum.psnprofiles.com]
Comments 81
1 comment in already glorifying Microsoft. It’s 5:38 AM currently where I am. I expect over 200 comments but noon.
Odd. I downloaded some old games on my PS3 over the weekend. No issues at all at the time.
Might it just be a bug related to the closure of the store?
We might wait to see what's going on before we... Ah feck it. We already have the pitchforks handy from last week. 😜
Can you imagine if Sony tries to pull this crap next generation with PS4 games? While they weren't perfect, a lot more PS3 games were at least playable off of the disc. The shoddy state of a majority of games available on PS4 at release means some of your favorite games could be relegated to serving as drink coasters.
@Total_Weirdo The problem is also affecting the physical versions of select games — it's not exclusively a digital-only issue.
Hopefully a glitch. This would be hugely significant if it becomes widespread and there seems no reason for it. I understand the expense and security issues behind having a payment mechanism to maintain, but Sony potentially open themselves to expoits if software is unpatched. I think this is just a psn problem rather than patch removal. This wasnt mentioned in the email from Sony as something to be switched off, so i think this will be fixed
I hate being right sometimes.
I've not had issues yet, but I'm still playing through games I already had installed.
Seriously, I've long favoured xbox, but between this and the CBOMB, I don't see any reason to buy multiplatform games on PS anymore.
Wow. I was literally planning on buying up a bunch of digital titles and physicals at the end of this very month. No chance now, I'll give them a little while before making friends with the pirates out on seas of yonder.
@LiamCroft i didn't MGS 4 add trophies with a patch too. I Might need to make sure its still installed on my PS3
@Medic_Alert In the case of Cyberpunk there will be a complete edition at least. That's pretty much a given at this point.
@Total_Weirdo
That’s because old games are a reason for people to buy Gamepass, which is all MS care about, Sony want people to keep buying new games, so old, cheap games are direct competition to them. People only have so much time after all.
This is why Sony stopped having sales for digital PS3 and VITA games I’m sure.
I couldn’t careless about old games when I got a lot of current games I’m trying my hardest to get through. It seems like the gaming media is trying their hardest to takedown Sony over tedious things but annoy the fact that Microsoft hasn’t put out a new aaa exclusive game in years.
@Medic_Alert And it’s only Monday morning where I am, wonder what state Sony will be in by the end of the week?
Guess Sony really want people to use their PS now service.
Well there goes your second hand PS3 market. I mean shutting the store is one thing, but removing all game patches? That accolade of you never actually owning that game you’ve bought physically or digitally coming to light here.
@4kgk2 it's not just Sony. Just look at Hollywood. They build up movie stars only to tear them down right after they reach their peak.
Many (if not most) people, unfortunately, love nothing more than seeing others, who were once successful, fail.
South Park raised a great point about it.
You think it's bad for PS3, imagine it happening with games released today? Games broken at launch (Cyberpunk), missing content from disc (Spyro) or just flat out requiring servers to play like Outriders and Battleborn (sorry that one is already dead). The blind support I've seen for Sony online is staggering when they are doing things like this to your games
This is why you collect Nintendo and buy Playstation games on the cheap and move on. Sony's offerings have always been seen by me as throwaway experiences since PS2. This move has simple justified my approach to Sony products since they started releasing barely finished games that required patches to even be playable later on.
They really needed to confirm that game patches will be indefinitely accessible to change this attitude, instead it seems they've done the opposite. All this does is make their games even less valuable to me going forward.
@Total_Weirdo
Yet this is for all disc version games. Making owning discs pointless.
@AhmadSumadi it's hardly glorifying somebody to point out that if one company can do it so well, it shouldn't be hard for the "market leaders" to do the same.
@LiamCroft
Would it be the case that some later pressings of discs also feature, if not the latest, some updates/patches?
@4kgk2 I don't mean to be a grammar nazi but isn't it 'couldn't care less'?
@Vacuumator very rare in my experience, GOTY editions can do but often even the Platinum hits releases were just the same game but in worse packaging
@Vacuumator Yeah, as @carlos82 said, GOTY editions may contain the latest patches. But I wouldn't expect many other versions to ship with updates on the disc.
@Fyz306903 I fixed it I’m sorry I’m kinda tried.
@carlos82
I actively avoid any Platinum/Greatest Hits when collecting physical discs, I prefer the obsessive continuity of owning all original releases.
It has to be a bug because if not it will shake trust in buying any playstation software in the future. It would be a monumentally daft decision.
Given PS4 games almost all come with patches to make them even function, the thought that patches may not be available next time Sony decide to close a storefront is unfathomable quite frankly.
@Vacuumator same but largely because I just don't like the look of them 😆
@Lightning_FF13
Again most of the games listed are DISCS not digital games. If the DISCS are unplayable then you have a shiny new coaster.
@4kgk2 I'm not touching the media aspect here.
But retro gaming is a thing, and it's nice that you get to play new stuff, and it would be nice if retro gamers could also continue to play their games too.
Also, MS not releasing anything is completely irrelevant. This story would still exist even if they did, and a company not releasing a game, or releasing a game across multiple devices, is not a scandal. It's actually the norm.
Yeaah, I'm glad I cancelled my plan to buy ps5 digital back then to save $100. In the end, physical version is still the best option
@Total_Weirdo Do people like you even know what you're talking about? Less than 30% of their 360 and og Xbox games work with BC. Sure it's better than nothing, but I hardly consider that embracing their old games. You people talk like they have complete BC and it's bs. They haven't even added anymore games to the BC list in years.
It's probably just some kind of server glitch as a result of them moving things around in preparation for closing PS3/PSP/Vita stores (still a dumb move by the way) but for those in the know it is another event sending a clear message:
We Here At Sony Do Not Care About Legacy.
Do what Jim Sterling suggested and just pirate the games. Most PS3s are softmoddable now. If Sony don't care, why should you?
@mucc They absolutely do care about legacy. Many games they haven’t added are due to licensing issues. But just last month they added FPS boost to older games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim. How is that not caring about legacy when they’re still improving things for older games?
To say that Xbox doesn’t “embrace” older games is a ridiculous statement looking at what they have done.
@mucc Regardless of there not being 100% back compatibility on the One and Series consoles, it's a hell of a lot better than PS4 and PS5 consoles which, last I checked, flat out do not and will not ever play PS3 games without subscribing to PS Now or buying some kind of "remastered" edition that runs natively on that model of PlayStation.
Whereas with the One and Series, if you place an original Xbox 360 disc into the drive it'll download a near-flawlessly emulated version of that game for free. Some of which even look miles better - Red Dead Redemption springs to mind. This doesn't require a subscription service like Gold or Game Pass, it comes with ownership of the console. Hell, it even plays the boot up screen for the original Xbox or Xbox 360 as the game launches, in 4K... 😂
@thefourfoldroot - Yeah those old GP games like Haven, Narita Boy, Outriders and Octopath Traveller. Then there's the really old stuff like the entire Kiryu saga of Yakuza games, Jedi Fallen Order, Tetris Effect, Doom Eternal, Dirt 5 etc. Just ancient.
Would it really kill some of you to admit that how Sony has handled this whole situation is nothing short of objectively terrible? Dreadful communication, ethically reprehensible treatment of Vita developers, the lack of any detailed solution to this, Sony's two-faced lip service about their legacy, etc. Besides tribalism or not fracturing your own ego, what do some of you defending Sony get out of this? Stop burying your heads in the sand and demand better.
The way I see it, in an ideal world all the patches to older games would be in an internet archive, where we could transfer them to a USB flash drive and install them offline for the use of your physical collection for both the current PS3 games and the future of inevitable PS4 games.
"Digital is the future".
I was dead against it, still am, and still buy physical. Way to go everyone who made digital popular!
@Shigurui
? I didn’t say Gamepass didn’t have new games, clearly it does, I was obviously saying that keeping a collection of old games on the service is a value add that helps sell Gamepass. Whereas Sony have no such incentive, just the opposite in fact.
We don't think Sony have been hacked, do we?
Sony needs to address this at least. These mistakes and flubs are adding up.
As someone that still plays old games, and has his PS2 and PS3 still hooked up I’m disheartened by what’s going on.
@mucc "They haven't even added anymore games to the BC list in years."
They said that they were stopping that while they ensure that all games that worked on Xbone would also work on the xbox series. They have also said they'd like to go back and do more titles but that it can be challenging because of licensing.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-05-28-microsoft-listening-to-fan-feedback-on-more-xbox-back-compat-games
What MS have done though is make sure most of their first party titles are available. Either through BC or remaster collections like Halo and Rare Replay. They also somehow managed to sort out the licensing issue of Too Human and made it free for everyone to download.
So at the end of this year I will be able to buy either the discs or downloads of Halo, Gears, Fable, etc and play them on Xbone or series. But I wouldn't be able to buy and play the complete stories of franchises like InFamous, God of War, or Little Big Planet. And while new players can download and play Too Human for free, they won't even know Resistance even existed.
There's one major area I can think of where MS fails with their support of their first party titles, and that's Forza.
@awp69 Funny how you ignore that Sony has added boosts and upgrades to old games too. If MS cared about old games they'd actually make more than 3 out of 10 work. Obviously their stance is better than Sony's, but that's not so hard to do when they don't care at all. So many of you act like they have complete BC and it's a complete lie.
These aren't third party bailouts on the storefront itself, Sony is responsible for server data maintenance as long as they don't announce otherwise in advance, so there's little to assume here but temporary database errors. But one can see how it may fan (no pun intended) some more flames of paranoia, given the general atmosphere.😅
@Fyz306903 it is, but it seems like American English (and what of its influence flows over the Atlantic) inexplicably took to using a shorter variant... with remarkable nonchalance about the word omission choice effectively flipping the polarity of the entire message. Guess they're used to it by now.
No issue for me and most of my games I already had them up to date anyway to have them ready for whenever I wanted to go back to them. I particularly like to play the Killzone games the Ratchet and Clank games (all of them) along with the Sly Trilogy and Jak and Daxter Trilogy. I have many more but these games are all I need.
Just tested Metal Gear Solid 4 and again no issues. Probably an issue their end I would say.
and so it begins......
I am curious. To those that say this doesn’t matter, do you ever watch an older movie ? Imagine if Star Wars (New Hope) was not watchable ?
Stop giving Sony a pass. The only way they will improve is to let them know when they have messed up.
@mucc who said they have complete backward compatibility?
@Lightning_FF13 who are you going to ask for a refund? if you bought the game used , do you go back to that person/store and ask them for your money back? sony isn't going to give you a refund for a game you purchased 15-20 years ago.
@zekepliskin the ps4 or ps5 were never advertised to play ps3 games. it was never a feature that was going to come to those consoles besides psnow.
@Xenomorph_79 i wouldn't really call it bad press? they aren't going to keep the ps3 store up forever. and i'm sure they can easily show off the numbers in how many people visit the store , and how many products are purchased off of it. when there is little to no activity in the store , why keep it running? why waste that energy on something thats not being used?
@twitchtvpat Neither was Xbox 360 game compatibility for the Xbox One, but it's had that for years now and it's excellent - works as if it were designed to be there from the start. What's your point?
@twitchtvpat This is the key for all digital store-fronts. They will ALL end up this way when the amount of money gained by keeping them active drops below the amount of money it costs to maintain.
If it were just one person still using the store, for example, it wouldn't be worth it for Sony (or Microsoft or Nintendo) to keep every copy of every game available to them. Just scale this one person up until you get to the point where it matters. 100? 1,000? 10,000? It's inevitable that the number of users will drop below this threshold.
I traded in my PS3 for credit on my PS4 back in 2013. Did not care then, do not care 8 years later.
The PS3 game I care sbout in 2021 is NieR Replicant ver.1.22. I can play that on my PS5 just fine.
@Total_Weirdo Forza horizon 2 & Forza horizon 3 aren't purchasable anymore so they aren't that dedicated
Other than the people purchasing said games for the first time. Who else would be rocking version 1.0? Is this "problem" reverting these games back to ver 1.0 or something?
I am going to hide my PS1/2&3 games on disc just incase Jim Ryan comes round and smashes them up Keep the hate coming Internet because once SONY shows the next God of War, Horizon etc etc no one will care about these petty things really. I don't care
I just downloaded the patch for SOCOM 4 about a week or so ago. I have the physical version.
nice one sony
Sony should do a virtual console for PS4 and PS5.
Sounds like a bug or just some weird randomness. I was finally able to download my purchases by turning on 2 factor and created a device password for my PS3. Hope they get this fixed.
welp. we also have the cmos problem to worry about now too. things are getting real shady. i better pop in all 100+ of my physical ps3 games and get the patches while i still can!
@PS12345 unfortunately, you cannot trust any digital plaform, be it psn, xbox live, nintendo or even steam. digital games get de-listed at a moment's notice. gamespass games get rotated out and can not be archived in your account. the same will happen with backwards compatible games on xbox in time. preservation is going to have to lead to piracy at the end of the day because the pubplishes don't give players any other choice.
As if this whole thing isn’t bad enough you’d think by now Sony would lift the limit of two PS3 consoles to download digital purchases!! Now I have to deactivate my 250G and activate my 500G PS3 so I can download more stuff! My 60G Fat backwards compatible PS3 is staying active!! But cmon! I own 3 360’s, 2 Xbox Ones and a New Xbox series X and all I have to do is just sign in and all my stuff is there!! It’s ridiculous now Sony!
@PS12345
Wow. You made a whole account just to spill that little bit of drivel. Wow.
Old Jimbo would be horrified at my setup, I have my PS1 and PS2 set up and ready to go, hooked up to a CRT!
@Lightning_FF13 lol, you aren't going to get a refund on a game you've already played and beaten thats 15-20 years old. you aren't that very smart if you think they would.
@Xenomorph_79 why on earth would they create a new store for a console that no one buys games on? that would be a giant waste of money. and they are giving people months to buy games before it closes. why do you need a year before it closes? if you haven't already bought the games you wanted why would you all of the sudden want to now?
Do we know if PS3 updates will still be manually downloadable once the shop shuts down?
@Royalblues I got horizon 3 with the hot wheels expansion bundled with my Xbox one S when I bought it so I can download it from my library but can't buy any of the other dlc's , I also claimed horizon 2 when it was on games with golld so I can play that but only if I have an active gold subscription
This is probably a glitch but let's face it, there will eventually be hundreds of disc based games from the PS3 generation onwards that will be incomplete or even unplayable from disc before too long. (Unless you have the discipline to maintain your own offline archives, as the PS3 hard drive won't last forever either). Pirates to save the day in future?
While I don't have similar for PS3 to share, this is a useful thread that identifies complete, updated PS4 games on disc
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=316998
@d-slice yes, but for how long isn't clear.
@LordSteev So there you have it why we need games to be released in a playable state without a 10+ GB day one patch.
@joey302 Make a backup and install a bigger harddrive that will be done in a jiffy. 🤪
@Flaming_Kaiser Good suggestion. SSDs are surprisingly cheap these days too, not that the PS3 with it's ageing SATA-I bus would benefit hugely but it would still be noticeable. I paid £100 for a new 2TB SanDisk model and I tried it in both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X - it helped in the Pro, and it really flew in the One X.
@zekepliskin One thing i read about it its with the SSD they dont support trim so i dont know if im right on that front but they tend to get slower with time. But my PS4 is much more stable now.
@zekepliskin Just get a good one if you get one with 1TB just spend the €20 extra for the extended warranty. Im thinking about a Samsung 2TB for my pro the EVO is it with 5 year warranty.
@Steel76 Thats why i dont buy games with insane patches anymore.
Wow, Sony just can't stop making it's longtime fans miserable.
What if I need to replace my PS3 HDD at some point?
@Flaming_Kaiser
Exactly. 👍
Thankfully any PS3 games I would have cared about, already beat story wise.
Hopefully these are just glitches and will be fixed soon though.
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