News that Sony shut down the PlayStation Store’s PS3 servers this summer spread like wildfire on Monday. The speech in the comment sections was filled with anti-DRM rhetoric and renewed promises of collections of just physical games, because without content servers to connect, your digital PS3 purchases will eventually become impossible to play. Even if legitimate purchases are installed on the console’s hard drive before Sony “turns the button”, they can only live while the internal clock is in sync. That’s why this guide to replacing a PS3 PRAM battery written by [Andrew] has renewed importance. After changing the battery, the internal clock needs to be reset and this requires validation from the PlayStation network (you know, the one that will soon be turned off).
Game preservation group [Does it play?] drove home the impact of such a Sony business decision on Twitter. The topic is quick to point out that even if users are quick to download all of their purchases to a PS3 system again before the July 2 deadline, these games will eventually become impossible to play if the system clock is out of sync. Replacing the PRAM battery and reconnecting to PlayStation Network before Sony closes its servers should give the user more play time. However, without any further changes to Sony’s licensing policy, little more can be done physically to ensure that digital PS3 games will work forever.
Sony is not the only one to attract the ire of digital rights defenders over the closure of its online services. Nintendo closed the DSI-Shop in 2017 and Microsoft shut down access to the original Xbox LIVE servers in 2010. All three major console manufacturers disappointed their customers by removing the ability to reacquire purchases in some way, but the fact that many PS3 exclusives were only available digitally, which further aggravates problems with digital rights. Putting on a new coin cell may not be the permanent solution that everyone is looking for at the moment, but it wouldn’t hurt to become familiar with the Cell processor again.