Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation Store for PS3, PSP, and PS Vita will shut down this year. According to a page on the company’s site, the PS3 and PSP will lose access to the PlayStation store from July 2, 2021 while PS Vita owners won’t be able to access it from August 27 of this year.
This finally confirms a report from TheGamer that stated the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita storefronts would be permanently shuttered. While this means that players on the three systems won’t be able to purchase new games, apps, or DLC on the PS Store, they will still be able to download content they had already purchased before.
However Sony has done little to allay fears regarding the PS3’s DRM situation and subsequently, the PS4’s.
Why Sony’s PS3 DRM Policy Is Fatal for Video Game Preservation
You see, if your PS3 is unable to connect to Sony’s servers or that if the battery powering its internal clock is dead (also known as CMOS battery) or has low charge, you won’t be able to access any of your digital PS3 games. This includes PS1 classics as well as PS3 digital downloads. At best, some digital purchases may revert to trials which was a little used feature that allowed you to play a game for upto an hour and save your progress and trophy over to a purchase of the aforementioned game.
While you can replace your CMOS, if Sony takes its servers down you will not be able to access your purchases at all.
Sony’s poor design choices could result in millions of PS3s serving as e-waste. More so with the PS3 selling 87.4 million units lifetime to date. We’ve explained the issue in depth right here.
PS4 DRM Kills Physical Game Purchases
For reference, the PS4 has sold 114.9 million and that too has been plagued by equally poor DRM choices.
PS4 owners have it worse as IGN India reported earlier this week. If Sony decides to take down its servers, you also lose access to your physical game library. According to trusted hacker Lance McDonald this is because trophies on the PS4 need the console’s internal clock to work correctly so as to prevent users to change date and time values and exploit the PS4’s trophy system.
His tweet regarding this was in response to Does It Play — an account dedicated to video game preservation. The account stated that when “ the PS4 CMOS battery dies (and it will) it renders all PS4 digital files unusable without a server reconnection and in PS4 it also kills disc playback.”
Like the PS3, you can replace the PS4 CMOS. However if Sony decides to take its servers down, you will not be able to access any of purchases be it digital or physical.
All of this suggests that Sony isn’t particularly interested in preserving its vast catalogue of games that range from the obscure to the immensely popular and is perhaps a worrying sign of things to come for those interested in actually owning the games they buy.
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