Rumor: PSP, PS Vita, and PS3 Stores to Close Later This Year

PS3, PS Vita, and PSP owners; prepare for disappointment as the stores for your consoles will soon no longer be available. The same goes for your ability to purchase digital content for the devices.

PS3, PS Vita, PSP Stores Face Closure

According to "a source familiar with the situation" and verified by The Gamer, the stores associated with the three consoles—the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Vita, and the PlayStation 3—will close in 2021.

July 2nd sees Sony removing digital purchasing from both the PSP and PS3 platforms. So, if you wanted to grab any DLC, the time is now. Soon, you'll no longer be able to download or buy digital content for either device.

Sony plans to remove the store for the PS Vita on August 27th, so you've got a bit more time to buy any digital games or DLC you want for the popular handheld before the store pulls its shutters down for the last time.

Why Is Sony Closing the PS3, PS Vita, and PSP Stores?

While these consoles all still have a user base, we have seen an entire gaming generation since their release; two generations for the PSP, given that Sony released the PS3 a year after its first handheld console.

Sony released the PSP in 2005, over 15 years ago; it proved to be a popular device. The PS3 came along in 2006 to the same fanfare as the PSP. Then the Vita arrived in 2011, and nobody (well, little over 10 million people) bought it.

So, given the age of the three consoles, it comes as no surprise that Sony is ending support. While it might be a shame to owners of the consoles, at least you have plenty of opportunity to pick up a PS4 at a reasonable price, now the PS5 is out (albeit in limited quantities).

Sorry, PSP and PS Vita owners. Sony currently has no plans (that we know of) for a new handheld device. It has been putting all of its energy into revealing details about the next generation PSVR. Plus, it would have to beat the unstoppable Nintendo Switch...

Unfortunately, the reason Sony is ending support for the consoles is they have run their course. They're no longer in production, so at some point Sony has to stop working on those past-gen consoles and concentrate on current-gen hardware and games.