So you may have read already as its all over the internet and the Youtubes’ that Sony is shutting down the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3 (PS3), PlayStation Portable (PSP), and PlayStation Vita (PS VITA) consoles this year. Hopefully, Hopefully this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone as even the most casual of gamers should know that Sony seems to be leading the charge on phasing out physical media in favor of an all digital ecosystem. One more argue that PC is the clear leader in digital only but i feel that is a bit of an apples and oranges situation as the PC is not a specialized device like gaming consoles. Below is from the official notification from Sony.
“We are closing PlayStation™Store on PlayStation®3 on July 2nd, 2021 and on PlayStation®Vita devices on August 27th 2021. Additionally, the remaining purchase functionality for PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) will also retire on July 2nd, 2021. After thoughtful consideration, we decided to make these changes in an effort to focus our resources for PlayStation Store on PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®5, which will enable us to enhance the customer experience even further. We thank you for your support on these platforms throughout the years.”
There are a lot of videos already by other content providers covering the story. I will probably make my own if I can get my butt in gear. That said Radical Reggie has a couple videos with games to scoop up before the store is closed. Also, if needed get your hard drive backed up and upgraded too. This way you can get all the content downloaded for digital, or installed and upgraded for any physical games.
INSTALL AND UPGRADE HARD DRIVE
- Backup Hard Drive – https://www.ubackup.com/articles/backup-ps3-hard-drive-4348.html (You can use an external Hard Drive or Thumb Drive. I used a general thumb drive and it was not recognized, then I used my Cruzer and it worked no issue. Also make sure the drive is formatted FAT32 and 1TB or less.) **Make sure to sync Trophy data**
- Setup thumb drive with PS3 software to install on new drive – https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/273210/set-up-a-new-hard-drive-for-playstation-3 (Again, see note in step 1.)
- Restore Backup – https://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/backuputility.html (Use restore option, do this before you download / install digital content or install / update from physical media.)
MUST HAVE GAMES TO DOWNLOAD
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSK8K27X2c0 – 50 recommendations
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk1i-55ETc – 70 more recommendations