Microsoft has officially shuttered the Xbox 360 store, following in the historic footsteps of Nintendo, which closed the Wii/Wii U shop in 2019. Against all odds, that somehow leaves Sony's overpriced, notoriously difficult-to-develop-for PS3 as the last seventh-gen video game console to remain online, with a functioning (albeit deserted) marketplace. The war is over; lay down your controllers; now we need a time machine to send word back to 2005.
As Sony is still rumoured to struggle to port PS3 titles to modern platforms, it's probably a good thing, too, just from a video game preservation perspective. That, and of course, the threat of the PlayStation faithful rioting again, as they notably did last time Sony said it was taking the rickety PlayStation Store associated with PS3 (and PS Vita) offline (before notably walking that one back). Sadly, the day will inevitably come when we must all bid goodbye to that legendary seventh generation of consoles we love so well; today is not that day.
Did you ever think the sluggish PS Store on PS3 would remain online in 2024 BCE? In the comments section below, place your bets on when the era will finally end.
Comments 70
Extry extry, read all about it - Sony in consumer-friendly activity when compared to its direct competition! You heard it here first.
I'm afraid.
But sure they will axed it down the line.
Can’t put into words how hard I smiled seeing the thumbnail. Kudos to the thumbnail maker.
the ps3 generation did have some quality games its just a shame there no backwards compatibility for it
when they eventually do close the ps3 store lets hope they have one big closing down sale
Crazy how Sony threatened to shut down their 7th Gen digital store down first and today they're the last ones standing
It's just crazy that PS3 is 18 years old and it store outlive X360, Wii, WiiU, 3DS, and PSP. Man, i feel old lol.
Not to mention some games are still exclusives for PS3 too (not counting the PS+ streaming for PS4/5):
I have some wishlist for PS3 especially for PS1 and PS2 Classics such as Fatal Frame 1 & 3, Mega Man Legends 1 & 2, Misadventures of Tron Bonne, Suikoden 4, Rygar, Neo Contra, Maximo vs. Army of Zin, and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. So maybe i will grab a $20-30 PSN gift cards and buy a couple of these games.
still play it to this day
best PlayStation generation in my opinion
@trev666 facts, the ps3 is the goat playstation that’s underrated, and under appreciated. the world wasn’t ready for it, but now it’s ok to drop $500 on a console that’s not even worth the price; funny how things change.
on topic though , i already bought everything i needed off the 360 store in its final days . the ps3 is the goat playstation and Xbox360 is the goat console , seventh gen was really good.
So happy the PS3 store still works; I have such a huge collection on there and would be very upset to lose access
7th gen was crazy. The gaming industry was firing on all cylinders, and no matter what platform you got. You were getting some fantastic legendary games.
“Did you ever think the sluggish PS Store on PS3 would remain online in 2024 BCE?“
I know Ken’s claims about the Cell were pretty wild but I never knew it could do time travel!
@PuppetMaster to this day I’m still hurt by the infamous and R&C ones. They feel such a no-brainer pick to port. Not to mention, 3D dot heroes.
@trev666 preach.
@PuppetMaster The PS3 is still the only Sony console that you can play Final Fantasy 13.
@trev666 Every PlayStation before the PS5 can lay claim to being the GOAT imo but the PS3 is definitely near the top. The drop in quality has been extreme.
While it's the last man standing it did launch a year after the XBOX 360, so needs to be up at least a year longer to steal the longest serving crown.
@Yousef- Ikr. Sony already own Bluepoint and Nixxes, two studios that specialized for remaster / remake and port. So i'm not sure why Sony holding up on remaster their PS3 games for PS4/5 because they clearly have the resources to do it.
Heck, some of their PS1+PS2 games like Wild Arms, Arc the Lad, Ape Escape, Syphon Filter, Socom, Legaia, Twisted Metal, or Jet Moto never have a remaster collection. I would definitely buy Wild Arms and Legaia HD Collection in a heartbeat.
The store actually did close but only here in Croatia after we moved to Euro as our new currency. Sony didn't bother to update the legacy store accordingly so they just shut it down (but they did issue a warning).
If anyone is wondering, I'm still able to access my games from the Download List option.
@Czar_Khastik that sounds stupidly dumb. Sony banning Caesar from enjoying his ps3 ;(
(Well at least he still got his ps1 store working)
@PuppetMaster what’s messed up is that BluePoint was not only bought out specifically to do remasters, but both it and Sony got so ambitious they decided it’d do remakes instead, thus leaving Sony with a huge void in terms of having a studio to do remasters. Silly, silly Sony.
And of course, we can never forget their ocean of ps2-onlies (that are still Sony owned, by the by) like Ape Escape 3, my favorite Sony platformer bar none.
Edit: as a side note, remasters exist for a reason. They can be a great tool to hold people off between major releases, fill a void Y’know? Everything has a purpose in the industry. Maybe Sony needs to learn that once they stop being complacent.
Is it really functional though? Last time I owned a ps3 about 5 years ago, the store barely worked and crashed nearly every time I tried to buy something.
@PuppetMaster Puppeteer, there’s a game that needs a remaster!
As someone who has a PS3 phat and only got into Xbox because PS3 was so gawd-awful at running anything third party, I'm grinning a bit. The last great PlayStation still lives.
@PuppetMaster 3D Dot Game Hero was a stone cold classic, its a shame its never been updated for the 4/5
I loved the PS3 era, it's imperfection and eccentricities make it stand out in my mind. I remember getting completely immersed in the necrotic wasteland of Fallout 3. Marvelling at the train level in Uncharted 2 and belly laughing at frenetic moments in Little Big Planet 2 Multiplayer. And then, it culminated in the release of the Last of Us! Which basically foretold the generational quality to come in PS4. Just a whimsical time for me in gaming, before I had big responsibilities.
Best PS console to date before they went all PC copycats. This thing is still a beast.
Running games like GTA IV/ V and RDR like it's nothing.
Still got more impressive games than what we've seen come out during PS4/5 generations
I wonder if both the PS3 and Vita online stores have seen an increase in online activity recently as the closure of the 360 marketplace approached?
I must say PlayStation announcing that they were shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita stores back in 2021 was one of their best marketing campaigns ever. I must have spent close to AUD$1,000.00 between my Australian and Japanese accounts on both systems since then, including buying heaps of themes and avatars. There are some amazing dynamic themes by an artist called Steven Stahlberg on the PS3 which I love cycling between whenever I boot up console.
@Beetlebum91 It's slow, but I have bought several games from the UK PS3 store recently.
Idk but calling the ps3 store functional is a stretch when any kind of exploring kicks u off the store after a certain amount of time and all games don't show and u actually need to spell out certain games ur looking for
@Specky dude , i played God of war 3 on it a few months ago and it still blew me away. it’s so good that it could replace its own remaster 😂 the ps3 is a freaking powerhouse, & its CPU is no joke! i doubt the 360 could even run it without some texture downgrades, frame drops and RROD.
If you had told me Sony would have kept PS3's store running later than Microsoft did with X360 I wouldn't have believed you.
Thought this doesn't tell the full story, there is less need for the X360 store as most of the best games from X360 are backwards compatible with XOne and XSX|S. Moreover many great games are still stuck on the PS3, there is more need of that store.
I think the ps+ premium streaming still relies on the PS3 network doesn't it? In that case, they may as well leave it accessable if it's staying up anyway.
That said, I don't really understand why other systems close the ability to purchase if they are keeping the ability to download purchased stuff on anyway. If the frameworks still there might as well let people use it, a few sales are better than no sales?
@nomither6
GOW3 was just so EPIC. Everything about it.
Devs needed some time to get the full power out of the PS3, but when they did, wow.
360 was the winner for a while for lots of people, but when the PS3 got going, it caught up really well and with some of the best and unique games.
I miss that era... Everything was more realistic, grounded, physics based and unique. Games tried so hard to stand out while now even more niche genres like SoulsBournes are oversaturated
The Wii U store died in 2019? That's news to me. Though they probably would have liked to lmao.
Fairly sure (though can't say I really care) it died last year alongside the 3DS store. Or the online. One of em went last year.
@Haruki_NLI yes, the Wii u and 3ds closed for purchases early last year, and online functionality a couple months ago. You can still download purchased games, but that's about it.
Wii u in particular seemed to have a very short life. Yes I know it was same fen as PS3, but it came out a lot later.
Though I think Nintendo fans tend to be more inclined to stay physical than other systems.
The last soldier standing from the greatest ever console generation. It will be sad to see the end of the best gaming era when it gives up the ghost, but it seems Sony’s inability to emulate PS3 games will keep it around a while longer. From a gaming perspective, what I’m most of us wouldn’t do to go back to 2006/2007.
Problem is, anyone who's used the store themselves or watched MysticRyan's YouTube video about it know that it's in a barely functioning state with a broken search function. Just because it's the last one standing, doesn't mean what's left standing is anything other than dilapidated
@LowDefAl That's pretty deceptive and misleading - Cell is so different from regular PowerPC architecture it's practically a different species and there's still a hell of a lot of custom architecture at play in seventh gen machines. Whereas last two gens they're basically just x86 PC APUs with one running Linux and the other a Windows 10 kernel.
Microsoft got away with it because they have a large amount of games that are backwards compatible anyway. (Say what you will about Microsoft but they are definitely the best of the 3 by a long shot in this department)
Nintendo got away with it because...well Nintendo gets away with everything.
Sony wanted to get away with it, received immense backlash because of no backwards compatibility alternative, and so decided to leave it up.
It's going to happen sooner or later but hopefully we will finally have some sort of backwards compatibility for PS3 by then. I think that's pretty much the only reason it's still standing. I hope we get it sometime because PS3 is still my favorite generation.
My PS3 Slim only play physical games since i didn't even make account on PS3.
@PuppetMaster oh man Puppeteer, it never got the attention it deserves. Should've been a ps4 launch game instead imo
Well the term functional is a bit of a stretch as Sony seems to have just left it to sit there and slowly fall apart and rot. They haven't maintained it in anyway shape or form and it's a pain to navigate also many of the games that are still on there are now more expensive than if you were to track down a physical version if there is one available that is. It would at least give people incentive to use it if they still did discounts on the store but they haven't in several years and probably wont again even before it closes.
@LowDefAl
Look, there was so much crap from devs back in the day surrounding PS3 development.
That's why most games used to look better on 360, the inferior hardware. When years went on and devs got finally used to, especially the Sony devs, they were able to pull out incredible power out of that thing.
Its architecture was way complicated, so much R&D went in there and I can bet it was a heck of a lot more than the more "simple" current gen, as their games struggle with physics apparently, because most games just do not have it.
PS3 is probably my favourite console of all times, and Vita is up there as one of my favourite handhelds, so I am glad that they are still up. However, I fear their time is coming sooner rather than later, and who can be sure how much notice Sony will give on their stores shutting down. That's why I'm starting to buy up things I'm "missing" already. Long live the PS3 and Vita! Maybe not the very best consoles there ever was, but definitely some of my favourites.
@LowDefAl The delineation isn't as fine as you're making it - try "heavily/transformatively customised" for the Cell.
PowerPC was used in a lot of consoles (and a lot of computers including the Mac and Amiga) but other than some shared heritage, the way the GameCube, X360 and PS3 implement their PPC architectures is different, the dev and build tools are different.
Having PPEs etc doesn't tell the full story. If the PS3/X360 were that similar there would have been performance parity across a lot more titles. PS3 was tricky not just because of the SPEs but because the dev tools were not intuitive, especially early on.
It would be like saying because a bunch of cars use the same chassis platform they're the same car, when all the other elements around the chassis vary from manufacturer. There's too much nuance to say "they're all basically the same".
Heavily customising PC parts for discrete hardware doesn't automatically mean that hardware is immediately a PC, basically.
I bet motorstorm is still £49.99 though... 🤣
N.i.c.e.Ps3 is a legendary console.so many good memories.word up son
Just a small correction to the article. The Wii and Wii U eShops were different. The Wii eShop closed in 2019 and the Wii U eShop closed last year.
@Balosi I suspect for the most part it really involves security standards for payment methods and the like. Obviously if they're keeping the network up and the ability to download old games and play them ,the actual cost of the network exists either way, so the only difference is the payment system going down. As card payment compliance rules change the software, and the security standards for the networks and transactions change, and that means updating both the servers, AND issuing updates for the client hardware (PS3/X360/Wii firmware) to update the security for the transactions.
By shutting down the store, and thus payments, they don't have to update the security standards on both the old console, and the servers for payment system updates, or changing to a new payment provider when their contracts change.
In Wii's case, online shut down completely because it was provided by a third party, Gamespy, which went down itself.
WiiU and 3DS IDK, I assume sales were mostly all physical and digital store use was exceptionally low, and also that Nintendo being Nintendo wanted to force everyone to buy re-releases at full price on new hardware and force their software into the "vault" for a full price re-release in 20 years from now rather than "devalue" their games by selling old games cheaper. But in actuality they probably also had a 3rd party running that and the contract ended. Nintendo seems to do scarcely little in house, everything is a patchwork of 3rd party providers.
In X360's case it's less of a big deal because the majority of games aren't actually getting delisted, they're still listed for sale on backward compatibility on the current store for current hardware. Not all, but most of the in demand games that weren't already delisted for licensing years ago, so you can still buy a lot of them, just on the newer store for newer hardware. The shutdown isn't nearly as impactful as PS3 and Nintendo consoles where a lot of the games just vanish forever.
@nomither6 why does no-one on the internet know what "underrated" means?.the console sold insanely well, it beat the Xbox 360 on sales despite coming a year later and reviewed extremely well... How In any way was it "underrated?"
@dreadpirateflappy still considered the “worst playstation” by many even if it outsold the competition. people rank it below the ps1 and ps4. i know what underrated means
I still use my PS3 daily^^ it's still the most convenient way to copy all my downloaded videos over and watch em on it. It still has one of the best video players too..
I am working on a networking solution via windows tablet to finally sunset it this or next year. Don't want my big OLD baby dying on me some day out of the blue.
The store though...will probably close in the same year they get their PS3 classics up and running on PS.....6?
Any chance Sony will crack PS3 emulation on the PS5 and let us download all the digital games we bought on the PS3?
@PuppetMaster How dare you forget Legend of Dragoon.
The thing I question the most isn't the servers, licenses for games (besides those delisted already, even though I bought WRC 4 on VIta when its' clearly outdated, probably are MotoGP games as well or any others with music or even if none of that licensing just the trademark or other factors anymore) as well that's valid by the companies, but the customers. That & store is slow yes.
If most care about major games, have or haven't bought up the PS1/2/PSP or even PSP Minis, or Indies, why would people care? They don't want ALL games so why complain? I get those that do still actively use these platforms, myself included but I mean ask any Wii U owner if they played the many PSP Minis ported to it? You'll get probably no body to maybe rare ones like myself that did buy them. Sure people talk up Affordable Space Adventures, but who does Rush rather than Toki Tori? Or Edge the expanded mobile version on Wii U then the PSP Minis release. Exactly.
I'm buying up many 6-7th gen shooters physical, I haven't checked PS3 as my wifi chip sucks for the controllers and the console. I have another PS3 but no interest in accessing the PS3 store, but do the Vita store on occasion. PS3/360/Wii were the last of experimental titles by some companies & direction, less IPs then we see today. Even for shooters alone, 1-3 entries then ended, some back compat on Xbox, some not. I'm buying them for curiosity/mechanic interest, same with platformers, racing, puzzle, hack n slashes, etc.
Valkyrie Store Plugin was a sign, that's been blocked but maybe still accessible to Sony it's just they don't want players to which is a bit dodgey if for PS+ or others/how inferior looking can be or to make us move on to the next platform. Like Nintendo did prices or delisting of Wii U games when Switch versions came out for Skyward Sword/Pikmin 3. Dodgey.
I get money and people aging or responsibilities, other titles as a priority or whatever the case a customer can't do anything about, it happens with life getting in the way or other titles or other factors and not able to afford them all.
But I mean what percentage of people cared like collectors did for Captain U or Umbra on Wii U? In the 360's case I didn't hear about some games till this year. So I totally get games we never heard of/then came across later, before/after store closure.
No one really has heard of those end of eshop period release games or cares & that furthers my point. XD It's why I bought Captain U. Umbra I couldn't as was USA eshop only but still a horror game that was in the news for balance board support but had to cut it, sigh, like Wii Vitality sensor being cancelled possiblities.
360 same thing, most bought up the digital versions of big games, DLC/themes & more sure I totally get, but games wise unless it's the VC/XBLA games most people don't care.
Getting them while we can is one thing, caring at all about them is another & narrow view of interest in titles unless a collector/nostalgic/hearing about something & getting it then oops store is down it's unfortunate but did have time, "to a degree" to get them over other titles, with/without discounts as annoying as that is & glad Capcom did for 3DS/Microsoft for 360, will Sony who knows?
I've got my PS3 still out to this day and I will keep it as long as it still works for all my PS3 games, if they shut the store at some point I just hope they don't block trophy syncing.
I have a lot of PS3 games in my backlog and just syncing to my profile is all I need as the store on PS3 is awfully slow. Hardly no games anyway and no sales and stupid prices I mean £50 for Farcry 4
@SeanOhOgain i'm pretty sure when they originally announced the ps3 store was shutting down , that it only really stopped you from buying new games on the console. you could still down load and play games you own.
@blah01 very slim tbh.
i still have a ps3 and play it from time to time.
One sad thing about the inevitable closure of the PS3 store is there will be no farewell-sales like on the 3DS / X360 eshops.
@2here2there @DrVenture69 Yeah i'm sad that Puppeteer didn't sold well. Such an amazing and unique platformer that deserves better sales and attention.
@Ilyn Ikr. I thought they gonna make a sequel or at least a remaster for PS4/5 but sadly the game didn't sold well 😔
@Flaming_Kaiser I didn't forget it, what i mean is an HD collection and LoD only has one game.
You know, it's really weird that LoD only got one game and a cancelled sequel despite it sold over 1.1 million copies on PS1 and also sold really well as PS1 Classic for PS3/PSP. Meanwhile, Sony greenlight Legaia 2, Alundra 2, or Arc the Lad 2/3/ToS/EoD despite these games sold less than LoD. I wonder why...But i would love at least a remaster.
@twitchtvpat I think you’re right!! But I don’t quite trust Sony to keep the servers running for authenticating things like the PS Plus PS3 and Vita games. Things can decay and just be forgotten about, better to keep the store ticking along!
I still remember looking at the PSN store on PS3 and it blew my mind that so much was at our fingertips.
it's great that the store is still active, of course, but considering how evolved the jailbreaking scene is for the ps3, it won't be much of a loss when the store closes for good as it is incredibly easy to open the floodgates. the community has done an amazing job to ensure that that entire software library is preserved on private servers. sony does not care about its legacy, so gaming enthusiasts have taken the initiative for them. same rule applies to the wii/wiiu/3ds shops as well.
@Porco the problem is if sony went amd one generation sooner , we wouldn't have this issue. its not even about caring about legacy or not when they changed up the hardware enough to make it pretty difficult for to bring those games to ps4 or ps5. the fact that they are even trying something atm which hopefully they can figure out something. which is a main reason why i still own a ps3 is to keep playing those games. i don't understand why some one would sell off their ps3 console but keep the games with out a system to play on.
I figure the only reason that the ps3/vita store is still available is that Sony was able roll back the software to close to the original version. The ps3/vita store seems to have some sort of DRM which allows for secure payment. The other reason is that the ps3 digital games are used as content for the ps+ premium and for training to create backwards compatibility with ps3 games on the ps5. All this is speculation but who knows?
My best guess as to when Sony would shut down the PS Store on PS3 would be any day after the console turns 20 years old in 2026. 2 more specifc guesses would be either New Years Eve or the last day of their fiscal year.
Almost 20 years old wow. I never understood why the close down old stores maybe it's expensive to upkeep them?
@PuppetMaster All the games you brought up gave me a smile on my face I don't need a 100 remake I would love to see a polished set of these games with a higher resolution and modernised controls. As much as I loved Syphon Filter the controls how was I able to play that. 😂
Before the PS3 store dies, I'll do a full system backup, just in case. Also, there's a reason why I have about 20 PS3 discs near the old stager.
I was sad when my fat 60GB unit died after about 5.5 years but I have to say the 25xx series Slim has been faultless ever since.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...