Sony reverses decision to close PS3, PS Vita digital storefronts

Sony has announced that the PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita devices will remain operational for the foreseeable future, reversing its earlier decision that drew criticisms among fans.

Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan wrote in a PlayStation Blog on Tuesday that after further reflection on the planned store closure, "It’s clear that we made the wrong decision here. So today I’m happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices."

"When we initially came to the decision to end purchasing support for PS3 and PS Vita, it was born out of a number of factors, including commerce support challenges for older devices and the ability for us to focus more of our resources on newer devices where a majority of our gamers are playing on," Ryan explained.

"We see now that many of you are incredibly passionate about being able to continue purchasing classic games on PS3 and PS Vita for the foreseeable future, so I’m glad we were able to find a solution to continue operations," he added.

However, Ryan said that the PSP commerce functionality will still shutdown on July 2, 2021 as originally planned.

The tech company previously announced that the digital storefront for its older consoles would be closed down by the end of March, causing online backlash from fans who were concerned that the closure would prevent them from buying new games from the store.