Additional reporting by Andy Robinson.
138 PlayStation [3,128 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ “> PlayStation games will no longer be available for purchase in any form when Sony Interactive Entertainment [1,278 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/ “> Sony closes PSP, PS Vita and PS3 stores this summer, revealed the VGC analysis.
Earlier this week, our analysis suggested that, in total, about 2,200 digital-only games would disappear from the PlayStation markets, although the vast majority were still available on other platforms, such as PC [3,101 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/pc/ “> PC or Xbox [2,908 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/xbox/ “> Xbox.
However, the 138 titles listed below will be lost forever on their respective platforms and are not available for purchase in any other format.
While users will still be able to re-download their previous purchases in the near future, starting on July 2 it will no longer be possible to buy games on PlayStation 3 [320 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps3/ “> PS3 or PlayStation Portable [28 articles]”href =” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/psp/ “> PSP online markets, and on August 27 the same will apply to Vita as well.
Games that will disappear after PlayStation Store closes include Infamous: Festival of Blood, Echochrome II, Lumines Supernova, The Last Guy, Rain, Trash Panic, PixelJunk Racers, Tokyo Jungle, TxK and MotorStorm RC.
For the sake of clarity, we do not include any game released physically in any territory. For example, Echochrome and Echoshift on the PSP received physical releases in the EU, and the region-free nature of the system means you can still play them globally.
It is also important to note that some of these games have already been retired in some regions: Lumines Supernova, for example, was removed from the EU store in 2017, but is still available in North America. As exclusively digital games continue to be released today, there is also a chance that the list could grow.
Click on our full PlayStation Store closure review for an analysis of the impact that Sony closures will have in terms of game preservation.
Journalist Brittany Vincent argued in a VGC column that the games industry needs to step up its efforts to preserve video games before more titles are lost over time.
“The medium is priceless – and although many of us were careless in our childhood, there is no excuse today for not archiving every piece of the art form we have come to value, not with high-fidelity capture cards, the ability to digitize items and documents directly from our phones and literal 3D printers, ”she wrote.
“If we don’t want to see additional games lost in time, it’s time to start taking preservation seriously – before it’s too late.”