Sony has announced that it will be closing the PlayStation Store on PS3 and Vita.
“After nearly two decades of supporting the PS3 console generation, we wanted to let you know we will be closing the PlayStation Store on PS3, as well as on PS Vita,” the company said.
“PlayStation Store on PS3 will close in select markets starting this year, followed by global closures for PS3 and PS Vita next year. That means new content purchases will no longer be possible once the PlayStation Store closes on these devices.
“To ease the transition, players will still be able to download previously purchased content after the closing date for the foreseeable future. ”
According to Sony, the PS3 store will first close in Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua in August 2026, followed by additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries in late 2026.
The PS3 and Vita stores in all other countries will then close in July 2027.
“As the PlayStation Store continues to evolve to support modern commerce systems, including updated payment processing standards, PS3 and PS Vita are no longer able to support these updates at the level required,” Sony says.
“We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming. PS3 and PS Vita represent an important era in our PlayStation history, so this was not an easy decision for us to make.
“As we continue to expand the PlayStation experience on newer devices that most of our users are playing on today, we need to focus more resources on delivering the best gaming experiences on these platforms as we look ahead towards the future.”
Sony had previously attempted to close the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita digital stores back in 2021, announcing that it was going to close the stores along with the PSP store that summer.
After player backlash, Sony U-turned on the decision, with then-SIE president Jim Ryan stating: “Upon further reflection, it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here”.
Sony decided at the time to keep the PS3 and Vita stores open, but went ahead with the closure of the PSP store, which ended on July 2, 2021.
