A report published on Monday said that the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Portable will be permanently closed in July and August, making digital copies of games for those platforms unavailable for purchase from then on.
TheGamer, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter, said the PS3 and PSP stores will close on July 2, and the PS Vita store will close on August 27. no answer was given at the time of publication.
Vita games and PS3 only are, for now, accessible only through the PlayStation Store app on both units. These platforms are not searchable on the PlayStation Store website and have not been available there since a (not very popular) redesign in October.
Sony eliminated the PS3 in several regions between 2015 and 2016 before formally discontinuing the console in May 2017. The PlayStation Vita, launched in the winter of 2011-2012, ended in March 2019.
The closure of the PlayStation Store presents yet another problem for PS Vita users, considering how many of the notable games on that platform were developed indie and sold online. Direct backward compatibility with PlayStation 3 on PlayStation 4 and 5 is not available (in the same way that many Xbox 360 and earlier games are supported on Xbox One and Xbox Series X). But the PS4 ports of some PS3 games are available (as separate products), and still other PS3 games (and PS2) can be streamed to modern consoles from the PlayStation Now subscription service.