Sony announces that the PS3 and Vita stores are going offline on the same day it tells us we won't be able to buy physical games in future 'This is why physical media matters'

Date:
Wed, 01 Jul 2026 13:41:47 +0000

Description:
In bad news for PS3 and PS Vita owners, Sony has confirmed that the consoles' storefronts are going offline.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Sony has announced that the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita storefronts will soon shut down They will close
next month in some regions, and next year in the UK, US, and Australia The news comes as the company announces the end of physical disc production in 2028 If today's news that PlayStation will stop producing physical game discs in 2028 wasn't bad enough, the company has also quietly announced that it
will be closing the PS3 and PS Vita storefronts soon.

On the official PlayStation Blog , the company argues that the decision was driven by the fact that these old systems "are no longer able" to support "modern commerce systems" and current payment processing standards. "PS3 and PS Vita represent an important era in our PlayStation history, so this was
not an easy decision for us to make" the post says. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

The storefronts will not be wound down immediately. It will be discontinued next month in Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua, then "additional Latin
American and Middle Eastern countries" later in 2026.

For those in the US, UK, and Australia, the PlayStation Store will go offline on PS3 and PS Vita in July 2027. That gives you roughly a year to make any final digital purchases if you still have those consoles lying around. You
may like In a huge blow to game ownership, PlayStation confirms end of physical games mere days after GTA 6's disc-less pre-orders Sony is deleting over 500 movies that people bought from their digital libraries Sony
clarifies ongoing PlayStation DRM issue, confirms digital games require a 'one-time online check' to authenticate licenses, but players won't
experience any issues beyond that

Importantly, Sony does at least say that "players will still be able to download previously purchased content" once the stores are offline for "the foreseeable future" so it sounds like you at least won't lose access to anything that you have bought.

The reactions to the news in the comments have been overwhelmingly negative, with one PlayStation fan writing that "This is why physical media matters. More and more proof that youre just buying a license that can be taken away whenever companies feel like it." Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Another wrote: "Just stripping out everything today from us huh?! How much money is enough for you guys to not make everything worse?" Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/sony-announces-that-the-ps3-and-vita-stores-a re-going-offline-on-the-same-day-it-tells-us-we-wont-be-able-to-buy-physical-g ames-in-future-this-is-why-physical-media-matters


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