PlayStation 3 and PS Vita Stores to Remain Open After Sony Reverses Course

Weeks after announcing that the PlayStation Stores on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable consoles would shut down, Sony is now walking back that policy on two out of three of those devices. PS3 and PS Vita owners no longer have to worry, as the Stores on those consoles will remain open for the foreseeable future.

The company originally announced that they would close the stores on all three consoles. In a blog post on the PlayStation site, CEO Jim Ryan explained the original rationale behind the stores’ closure: “When we initially came to the decision to end purchasing support for PS3 and PS Vita, it was born out of a number of factors, including commerce support challenges for older devices and the ability for us to focus more of our resources on newer devices where a majority of our gamers are playing on.”

Ryan said the company has done a complete 180 on this position: “Upon further reflection, however, it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here. . . . We see now that many of you are incredibly passionate about being able to continue purchasing classic games on PS3 and PS Vita for the foreseeable future, so I’m glad we were able to find a solution to continue operations.” I rarely see companies admit to making a wrong decision, and doing so now will probably salvage a lot of player goodwill.

As Ryan declared, “So today I’m happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices.” The PSP, on the other hand, will not have an open store beyond its original July 2 end date. This means that the advice to buy whatever you want on the console before the Store closes still stands in that particular case.

Source: PlayStation Blog