Reversal: PS3, Vita, And PSP Stores To No Longer Close Permanently

[mackenzie129]

This is the same site that on YouTube would put a red circle around a PS4 power button and title the video "10 things you didn't know about the PS4" and then relay the most basic information my special needs dogs would already know.

Edited March 28, 2021 by mackenzie129
Grammar

[KingSkovald]

2 hours ago, Xenoblast91 said:

Plus the fact that I consider myself more like a retro gamer because screw Sony, they aren't going to dictate what to play and more importantly, when. I'm planning to purchase a PS3 for the sake to play old games and fuse them in my account, and really want to try those as my love for franchises grew more than I evidently, played more. But no, they just want to sell whatever they like and if you don't align with their schedule, you can go to fuck yourself and loss the "hype train", one that apparently they designed awfully since the beginning. 

Their intention is clear to me now, it became obvious after their financial reports where microtransactions have the biggest share that they don't care about legacy at all and where they will be going, they ended partnership with lots of devs whose games where iconic for PS platform, like Heavy Rain, Yakuza series etc, closed Japan studio recently. Besides it's not even their legacy, their Californian management received rulership for free in 2016 when Sony decided to move headquarters from Japan to USA so why would they care?. I'm not even interested in any of their upcoming exclusives except maybe God of War.
Sony will be investing only in heavily marketed open-world/action crap, most likely with SJW propaganda all over the place like it happened with TLOU2, and partnership with 3rd party service-oriented games (Activision, Epic Games).
Jim Ryan doesn't want you to play those retro games because you'll be missing an opportunity to spend hundreds bucks on digital junk in CoD and Fortnite so he can show-off to investors.
I feel like this stupid management will turn PlayStation into shithole similar to mobile gaming very soon.

P.S.: Can't even call PS3 games "retro", they are so much better than all the crap that is getting released these days.

[Tiricy]

It's very bad, i don't like what they do. It's really annoying me. Why they shutdown website ?? we still purchase games on Ps3 and Psvita. I wanna really buy a lot of dlcs. Really we wanna make mention of them on twitter at @Playstation & @AskPlaystation & @AskPS_UK Ask them to stop shutdown any of these things.

[ars]

Good thing this heated discussion has died down. We have exactly one TheGamer news piece that didn't state their source, rumoring Sony will announce shutting down PSN Store by the end of the month. How to find out if the rumor is true? Wait until end of the month.

 

Every other news piece directly quotes TheGamer as their source (who, once again, didn't state *their* source).

All the other conspiracy theories about zomg PSN shutdown and the like are null and void, with absolutely no one but gamers ever touching the topic. Account authentication and server access aren't related to a storefront website, which may or may not exist.

[Tiricy]

32 minutes ago, ars said:

Good thing this heated discussion has died down. We have exactly one TheGamer news piece that didn't state their source, rumoring Sony will announce shutting down PSN Store by the end of the month. How to find out if the rumor is true? Wait until end of the month.

 

Every other news piece directly quotes TheGamer as their source (who, once again, didn't state *their* source).

All the other conspiracy theories about zomg PSN shutdown and the like are null and void, with absolutely no one but gamers ever touching the topic. Account authentication and server access aren't related to a storefront website, which may or may not exist.

They shutdown old store link for Ps3 and Psvita. It's very upset. We're trophy hunters love and like collect any good games on ps3 or psvita. I don't like really what happened. I hope we mention @Playstation on twitter. Maybe they listen to players. Please don't give up like that.

[Null_Spectre]

34 minutes ago, ars said:

Good thing this heated discussion has died down. We have exactly one TheGamer news piece that didn't state their source, rumoring Sony will announce shutting down PSN Store by the end of the month. How to find out if the rumor is true? Wait until end of the month.

 

Every other news piece directly quotes TheGamer as their source (who, once again, didn't state *their* source).

All the other conspiracy theories about zomg PSN shutdown and the like are null and void, with absolutely no one but gamers ever touching the topic. Account authentication and server access aren't related to a storefront website, which may or may not exist.

Indeed. At this point the thread title should have "RUMOURED" and not "REAL???".

[ars]

6 minutes ago, Tiricy said:

They shutdown old store link for Ps3 and Psvita. It's very upset. We're trophy hunters love and like collect any good games on ps3 or psvita. I don't like really what happened. I hope we mention @Playstation on twitter. Maybe they listen to players. Please don't give up like that.

 

Nothing to do with giving up, only reality ? I'm not sure you fully comprehend what "legacy" means. It means the platform won't be supported anymore. Sony announced PS3 will be discontinued four (4) years ago. You are very lucky the only thing they've done until now are some modest website changes. Because that you talk about is a website. And this we talk about now is a website. Nothing more.

Rather than gripe over stupid things I'm much more interested about the legal factors on if and/or how long I have access to content I've bought for the legacy consoles. No official source, absolutely none has ever said anything regarding the matter.

[KingSkovald]

42 minutes ago, ars said:

You are very lucky the only thing they've done until now are some modest website changes.

Seriously, no need to tell people they are lucky that Sony only treats their customers like shit and praise Sony for not treating them even worse, why so many PS players like to be treated like that? Have you even played on PC, Xbox or Nintendo platforms? Is Sony the only company for you?

50 minutes ago, ars said:

Sony announced PS3 will be discontinued four (4) years ago

4 years ago they announced that they terminate PS3 console production, how it's even related to services...

54 minutes ago, ars said:

I'm much more interested about the legal factors on if and/or how long I have access to content I've bought for the legacy consoles. No official source, absolutely none has ever said anything regarding the matter

Nope, it was stated in license agreement you agreed to when creating your PSN account, read carefully next time. Each region has its own license agreement.

[DaivRules]

3 minutes ago, KingSkovald said:

Nope, it was stated in license agreement you agreed to when creating your PSN account, read carefully next time. Each region has its own license agreement.

Thankfully the size of the gaming market is much larger than past industries where digital rights were terminated through license agreements (I’m referring to the dozens of music license services that existed and extinguished before iTunes started renting music). There would be some very interested lawyers looking into what digital rights mean now in the 2020’s compared to the 90s when a lot of these agreements were conceived. 

[fbdbh]

Just now, DaivRules said:

Thankfully the size of the gaming market is much larger than past industries where digital rights were terminated through license agreements (I’m referring to the dozens of music license services that existed and extinguished before iTunes started renting music). There would be some very interested lawyers looking into what digital rights mean now in the 2020’s compared to the 90s when a lot of these agreements were conceived. 

 

Yeah, I expect nothing less than a legal shitstorm if it comes to locked content, especially with the EU consumer protection laws.

[KingSkovald]

3 minutes ago, DaivRules said:

Thankfully the size of the gaming market is much larger than past industries where digital rights were terminated through license agreements (I’m referring to the dozens of music license services that existed and extinguished before iTunes started renting music). There would be some very interested lawyers looking into what digital rights mean now in the 2020’s compared to the 90s when a lot of these agreements were conceived. 

The problem here is that all agreements now usually have loophole, a section saying that company can update terms and if you don't agree with them you stop using service and company doesn't have any liability. So technically even if terms look good you don't agree to anything cause it can be changed anytime.

4 minutes ago, fbdbh said:

Yeah, I expect nothing less than a legal shitstorm if it comes to locked content, especially with the EU consumer protection laws.

Yep, I think that if things get really nasty such things will be regulated. But again, depends on country and local laws.

[ars]

37 minutes ago, KingSkovald said:

Nope, it was stated in license agreement you agreed to when creating your PSN account, read carefully next time. Each region has its own license agreement.

 

There's a bunch of factors related including contracts being void if the terms are worse than what is guaranteed in EU legislation, strong consumer protection and the fact the old PSN Store product pages stated "buy this and keep it forever" in plain language. So it's not as clear cut as you make it seem.

 

I'm going to ignore the rest of the trolls, I'm sure you can be less condescending and toxic if you try really hard. My posts are about the factual side of things, not about biggotry.

 

Edit: I'm only able to speak about the EU side of things. NA legislation gives way more wiggle room for corporations.

Edited March 28, 2021 by ars

[KingSkovald]

26 minutes ago, ars said:

PSN Store product pages stated "buy this and keep it forever" in plain language

UK license agreement I've read sounded like that back in the days too but very vague, I interpreted it as "purchased digital content is yours forever". NA terms indeed sound more like "we can terminate anything anytime without notice". Anyway personally I don't want Sony to explain me how they interpret it, I'd rather prefer to interpret them myself in court.

35 minutes ago, ars said:

I'm going to ignore the rest of the trolls

You sounded like one when saying that PS3 and Vita games removal is

2 hours ago, ars said:

modest website changes

 

[AwkwardFantasy]

I am starting to get more and more doubtful of this, but i did pick up all of the persona games JUST to be safe.

[DaivRules]

1 hour ago, KingSkovald said:

The problem here is that all agreements now usually have loophole, a section saying that company can update terms and if you don't agree with them you stop using service and company doesn't have any liability. So technically even if terms look good you don't agree to anything cause it can be changed anytime.

And more and more courts are ruling those loopholes are anti-consumer and being overruled all over the world, thankfully. There was a lot of legal pushback when these first started with dongles for software in the 80s and 90s that started a lot of legal conversations and companies backed off for a while.
 

I don’t personally see Sony cutting PS3 or Vita off from PSN for any foreseeable future so I don’t think any of this is relevant right now, but I am interested to see how any court cases over the next decade pan out and largely the whole “it’s in the terms” works fine for kicking someone individually off a service, but not terminating mass amounts of accounts with purchased digital licenses at a scale so large. 

[pavelbagirov]

56 minutes ago, AwkwardFantasy said:

I am starting to get more and more doubtful of this, but i did pick up all of the persona games JUST to be safe.

Some Persona games on ps3 is psn only?

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

13 minutes ago, pavelbagirov said:

Some Persona games on ps3 is psn only?

 

There's digital versions of the PS1 and PS2 Persona/SMT games, and I don't believe they've been ported to anything else digitally (sans the Golden (Vita) version of Persona 4 on PC, and Nocturne on PS4/Switch/PC). They're still available physically of course on their original platforms, but at least here in the UK nowadays, they tend to be stupid expensive, so the much more affordable option is buying them on PS3 (or PSP/Vita for the remakes of Persona 1 and the first game in the Persona 2 duology, the original PS1 version of which never saw light in the west).

[cris3f]

Sony Terms of Service do say they can do anything they want when they want. And you agreed to them. Legally is how it stands. It was always like that:

 

"You are solely responsible if you do not choose to download or access the content before it is removed or your license expires, and for ongoing storage and safekeeping of the content. SIENA is not obligated to provide you with replacement copies for any reason."

 

"SIENA reserves the right to change or withdraw features, specifications, prices, services and content at any time, without notice to you"

 

"Unless as otherwise stated in this Agreement, SIENA, at its sole discretion, may indefinitely suspend, or discontinue any and all online access to content at any time, including for maintenance service or upgrades, without prior notice or liability."
 

This is from 2016, the terms are now equal. And were equal before. They can be accessed easily:

 

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/legal/previousversiontosua/
 

EU consumer digital rights are basically none. The terms of service of a company take precedence and they know that taking them to court will take ages and cost a gazillion money. Politicians won't give a shit unless themselves are jeopardized (or their families) so don't count on help. Only issue was if EU would see it profitable to put fines on a ex-Japanese company now US one.

 

All people can count on is public backlash. Problems is how many people will really be pissed by the obvious closing that is coming (why would they have separated stores otherwise)? The vast majority of gamers are morons who just want to playa few games and / or brag that they have the latest new thing (either console or game, like cell phone, car, etc.) because it's what their goals in life are stuck on that. And vast numbers of gamers are focused on just a really few games, and unlikely old ones, and in case they do probably the new iteration of the same thing.

 

The sad reality is that PS3 and Vita sales are most likely less than 1% of the overall sales of PSN, and stores separation will make that even more clear. Worse for the moron in chief, most likely it's third party stuff, and he needs people to buy in droves the new stuff that he invested millions, so the logic is remove the old one so that they buy the new one. PS3 and Vita game publishers should have been smart and lowered the prices of their stuff so that it could be appealing to be purchased but I think the majority has just thrown the towel because they know the days of selling their stuff are numbered, except for the paranoid trophy hunters who'll be going to spend a fortune now on "before I regret" purchases ??. Is it smart to buy digital licenses of 10 year old stuff at full price of 10 years ago?

 

Last, something juicy from a interview of the moron in chief:

 

"And, finally, what was the last game you played on PlayStation 5?

Astro’s Playroom is a great game. You know, for an old-time PlayStation guy like me, I love all those Easter eggs that go back into all those games that I enjoyed many, many years ago."

 

Apparently only him could have enjoyed stuff many years, years ago.  Now you can't because he doesn't want.

 

Even more juicy?

 

"Our ambition is always quite simple; we want to make the PlayStation community happy."

 

Have fun...

 

 

PS Forgot something. Sony gave 1 year "notice" to PSPlus changes because they were actively selling 1 year licenses with different legal terms and descriptions. When they announced that there would be no longer PS3 and Vita stuff they were legally obliged to keep that for a year, so they did not make a early announcement, it was the period they had to keep the product in the same way as it was. So in reality they really cancelled and changed things without notice...

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by cris3f

[Sendai-Horatio]

Terms of Service are not legally binding, that being said there's only so much slack you can get before the actual law gets involved. Because there are consumer rights protections.

 

I really don't think anything is going to happen though and the next article is going to be about the old webstore and then it will end with "they shut down the old web store, who knows what they'll shut down next?! Please continue to read the website for further info".

 

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Sendai-Horatio

[Han_the_Dragon]

44 minutes ago, pavelbagirov said:

Some Persona games on ps3 is psn only?

No, on PS3 there's only P4A, P4AU and P5, all have retail versions (I think that P4A actually is retail only).

 

The ones that "would" be at risk would be P3DIM and P5DIS on vita (digital only), as well as P3P (retail only for PSP), and P1+P2 (digital only). P4G and P4DAN both have a retail version on vita.

 

The prices of the retail versions are funny for a long while, so, the overpriced prices on PSN actually aren't that bad..

 

On PS3 there's also Nocturne and Digital Devil Sage (Avatar Tuner in the US, I believe), those are PS2 emulated games or whatever they did to sell PS2 games on PS3 back then.

[AwkwardFantasy]

1 hour ago, pavelbagirov said:

Some Persona games on ps3 is psn only?

I picked up these, they're all ps1/ps2/psp games and are expensive af to buy physically.

PS3:
Persona 3 FES
Shin megami tensei nocturne

PSVita:
Persona 1 PSP
persona 2 innocent sin
persona 3 portable

And i already have a physical of persona 4 golden.
 

[Kurorac]

Just a question (don't want to go through all 43 pages), can we still earn trophies on PS3 and Vita?

[aishsha]

7 hours ago, KingSkovald said:

P.S.: Can't even call PS3 games "retro", they are so much better than all the crap that is getting released these days.

B-b-b-b-but they have autochess...

Edited March 28, 2021 by aishsha

[KingSkovald]

2 hours ago, cris3f said:

The vast majority of gamers are morons who just want to playa few games and / or brag that they have the latest new thing (either console or game, like cell phone, car, etc.) because it's what their goals in life are stuck on that.

Yes, it's the main reason why Sony is not afraid to destroy their own legacy (I bet their management use word "burden"). These players are indeed their core audience now and they aren't serious gamers, just play same popular multiplayer games over and over again every year, like FIFA or Fortnite or whatever and buy expensive skins/players to show-off to their friends.

I can understand that none of them give a damn about legacy, but sadly it's not only them.
Even in this thread there are many people who defend Sony and look like they are ready to swallow everything.
EDITED: for example, the guy below who quoted me

Edited March 28, 2021 by KingSkovald

[DaivRules]

12 minutes ago, Kurorac said:

Just a question (don't want to go through all 43 pages), can we still earn trophies on PS3 and Vita?

This thread topic never had anything to do with earning trophies. It was a rumor about purchasing PS3 and Vita items from the store in the future.