The news of the closure of the PS3, Vita and PSP PlayStation Stores has caused a great deal of concern. It was first discovered that some developers who were still making games for Vita were not told about the store closure, which caused a lot of problems and canceled games. Many also care that games are made permanently unavailable, especially digital games that have not yet been physically or re-released on another platform. VGC conducted a full analysis of the digital games in the three store windows and found that approximately 2200 digital titles alone will no longer be available when the stores close.
Here are the full estimates that VGC came up with in their research on the PS3, Vita and PSP stores:
- ~ 630 digital Vita games only
- ~ 730 PS3 (PSN) Games Only
- A small number of digital PSP games
- 293 PlayStation Minis
- 336 PS2 Classics
- ~ 260 PS1 Classics (especially on PSP and Vita)
VGC notes that a “vast majority” of the 2200 games are somehow available on other platforms; older PlayStation consoles or PC. The PS1 and PS2 classics are taken for granted here, but a number of games in the other categories also exist elsewhere. Other games are exclusively Xbox, with the only other versions of titles such as’Beyond Good & Evil HD, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Rayman 3 HD, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD, SoulCalibur II HD Online, Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, and both Bionic command games ”are now only available via Xbox’s extensive backward compatibility which still supports games from the Xbox 360 era. But 120 games that are exclusive to at least one of the online stores will disappear forever without buying it in the future.
While there are concerns about the preservation of video games, the analysis says that a large number of the games that are lost will somehow be available on other platforms, not to buy new through the store windows. In addition, players who already own the games can still go back and download them (provided they have the appropriate platform). From the angle of the preservationist, it’s the 120 games that cause the most concern.
As some examples, the following is exclusive to the PS3, Vita, or PSP only, without any other versions being available elsewhere:
- Infamous: Feast of Blood
- Echochrome II
- Lumines Supernova
- The last guy
- Rain
- Trash Panic
- Ache
- PixelJunk Racers
- Tokyo Jungle
- TxK
- MotorStorm RC
These games and more will be completely lost, not available for new purchases. And some are not even that old. Infamous: Feast of Blood is less than 10 years old. Although many movies, music and books can still be purchased decades ago, many platform-specific digital games regret disappearing after short periods, some even less than ten years. Yes, those who bought it before can still download and play, but in the long run, the availability of some of these games will decrease as new purchases / copies are cut off and the discontinued hardware is harder to find. Will anyone even be able to find and play Infamous: Feast of Blood in 50 years?
In fact, the Vita itself is only nine years old. Every digital Vita version that disappears was released less than a decade ago, some much less. The PS4 is not much younger than that, says VGC. While it’s obviously unlikely that Sony will turn off the PS4 store window any time soon (and it’s integrated much better backward compatibility into the PS5), it’s cause for concern, and I wonder what could one day become of our digital libraries than the idea of ownership and retention of digital games becomes fleeting.
It’s worth diving into the full VGC report for an even more detailed and nuanced look at what the closure of PS3, Vita and PSP PlayStation Store means, not just for the lost games, but the idea of the retention of long-term digital games in general. .
[Source: VGC]