News of the closure of PlayStation Stores PS3, Vita and PSP raised many concerns. It was first discovered that some developers who were still making games for Vita had not been warned about store closings, which created a lot of problems and canceled the games. Many also disagree with the fact that games are permanently unavailable, particularly digital-only games that have not had a re-release of any kind physically or on a different platform. VGC did a thorough analysis of the digital-only games in the three stores and found that around 2,200 digital-only titles will no longer be available for purchase after the store closes.
Here are the complete estimates that VGC has reached in its survey of PS3, Vita and PSP stores:
- ~ 630 digital-only Vita games
- ~ 730 digital-only PS3 (PSN) games
- A small number of digital only PSP games
- 293 PlayStation Minis
- 336 PS2 Classics
- ~ 260 PS1 Classics (especially on PSP and Vita)
The VGC notes that a “vast majority” of these 2,200 games are available in some form on other platforms; older PlayStation consoles or PC. The PS1 and PS2 classics are the most obvious here, but several games in the other categories also exist elsewhere. Other games will become exclusive to Xbox, with the only other versions of titles like “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 Commando games ”now only available through extensive backward compatibility with Xbox, which still supports games from the Xbox 360 era. But 120 games exclusive to at least one of these online stores will disappear forever, with no way to buy them in the future.
Although there has been great concern about the preservation of video games, the analysis says that a good number of the lost games will still be available on other platforms in some way, just so as not to buy new ones at these stores. In addition, players who already own the games can still go back and download them (as long as they have the right platform). From a preservationist point of view, these 120 games are the cause of greatest concern.
As a few examples, the following are exclusive to the PS3, Vita or PSP only, with no other versions existing elsewhere:
- Infamous: Blood Festival
- Ecochrome II
- Lumines Supernova
- The last guy
- Rain
- Trash Panic
- Pain
- PixelJunk Racers
- Tokyo jungle
- TxK
- MotorStorm RC
These games and more will be totally lost, unavailable for new purchases. And some are not even that old. Infamous: Blood Festival is less than 10 years old. While many films, music and books can still be purchased decades ago, many are regretting that platform-specific digital games have disappeared after short periods, some even less than 10 years. Yes, those who previously purchased it 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 and the discontinued hardware will be more difficult to find. Someone will be able to find and play Infamous: Blood Festival in 50 years?
In fact, Vita himself is only nine years old. Each disappearing digital version of Vita was released less than a decade ago, some much less. The PS4 is not much younger than that, notes the VGC. While it is obviously unlikely that Sony will close the PS4 showcase anytime soon (and it has integrated much better compatibility with previous PS5 versions), it is cause for some consternation, wondering what one day could happen to our digital libraries like the idea of property and preservation for digital games becomes fleeting.
It is worth delving into the full VGC report for an even more detailed and nuanced view of what the PS3, Vita and PSP PlayStation Store closings mean not only for games being lost, but the idea of long-term digital game preservation in general .
[Source: VGC]