PlayStation to close PS3 and PS Vita stores, full shutdown by July 2027
"We're ending physical disc production, but don't worry — we're ALSO shutting down our digital stores!" blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/a...
Ajay Kundlas203"Well least this day can't get any worse" *Microsoft looms in the background*
Vitor (JiGGs)108youtu.be/kWSIFh8ICaA?... Sony, remember this? It didn't aged well..
klonopain.bsky.social82i don’t know man. the whole gaming ecosystem is, at least to me, dying and rotten. everything is worse than it was 10 years ago. the ps4/3 generation felt like a golden age and now everything is going to shit. Idk if it’s covid, AI, or just the world burning but it’s depressing as all hell.
Robert D49I really want this to blow up in their faces. I know it probably won’t and people will just keep chugging right along but man I am pissed at this decision.
Mitch Dyer46A genuine shame. These platforms are the last bastion of PlayStation preservation. Dozens of games here Sony hasn’t and likely won’t add to the Classics lineup on Plus. RIP.
Jackson 🦖27Still forever mad that the LittleBigPlanet servers will never, ever come back. Thousands of pieces of community content, just axed out of nowhere.
Ayce72Everything is just so fucking bleak now
The Nerdskull59If everything is a digital download, why am I buying a console at all?
Séamus8I am more grateful than ever that RPGs are still books and zines, and if anybody tells me with a straight face that VTTs and online are the future I will ask them if they're interested in buying some magic beans and a fucking bridge.
Kevin Turing7it was a bad move for them to announce this on the same day
The Legacy Of M7So Sony, not only are you axeing physical copies of games, you're gonna be deleting options for people who own your old consoles? What's the point of even owning a Damn Playstation anymore? Aside from like a few games, i can get the bulk of what i want off of Steam if that is the case.
Beta-8088 The Cursed Retro-Protogen5This is your reminder that PS3 ISO downloading and encrypting tools are well documented and every model of PS3 has softmods of some variety
Lily 🌸5Playstation is really going downhill huh
Katsumi-Kin (Commissions Full)5I was already done with whatever the next gen consoles will be, but if this is true then I really have no regrets. I'm just sticking with what I have. I can't afford it right now, but it really would just be better to upgrade my fossil of a gaming PC.
Shadow D. Wolf 🏳️🌈🐺4If everything's a digital download anyway, I'll just download ISOs and ROMs to play on emulators and modded consoles. 🏴☠️
Dandy 👽4s*ny's plan of shooting themselves in the foot.. something tells me these brainless decisions are being made by AI
To this point, I will also reiterate that PS3 and PS Vita digital download preservation remains incomplete, particularly for Japanese games and DLC, where I imagine the bulk of that work has taken place abroad. This essentially gives a one-year deadline to plug some sizeable, yet quite tricky holes.
Tom, Legally Certified Date Simmelier129The Vita in particular has a lot of obscure DLC and even playable titles in Japan that were only offered as purchase bonuses and AFAIK, much of that remains unavailable "elsewhere." PSP content is also at risk. I myself just had to pay for some Japanese DLC because it'd only been dumped in English.
Kirbyfan456I completely forgot that there are still tons of unarchived games on the PS3, is there a list of games that still need archiving?
Mimi6Is there a list or organized effort in the community to find these games before they are gone? I imagine that surely someone is keeping track, right?
DanNaylor4Still have my PS3. Until it blows up, all the digitally purchased games will go with it as Sony hasn't migrated purchases and games to new generations.
greatcthulhulives2Honestly I'm shocked that the Vita store hadn't already closed.
The LEMON zone 🍋🍋commissions open2Will this affect homebrew stores like PKGI cuz i have both ps3 and vita modded
PS3 and PS Vita PlayStation Stores are closing starting August 2026 blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/a...
Wario64132-Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua – PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting August 2026. -Additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries – PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting late 2026. -In all other countries, PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita will close in July 2027.
donnythewhale.bsky.social98Announcing the closure of a digital store the same time as announcing you’re no longer doing digital is a special kind of stupid.
🔞Kaldwin_VT🔞61Sony: All games going forward will be digital only Also Sony: We're shutting down two of our digital storefronts.
Ajay Kundlas57Hey how about you make their fucking games available??? Friendly reminder to get mad about this now if you want either decision to change.
wavemaster1963.bsky.social20They're gonna have massive discounts then. Right?
Koenn17Wow, I bet those folks who spent $599 on a PS3 in 2006 are feeling pret-ty silly right about now. /s
StopSkeletonsFromFighting89July is your last chance to buy MK9 digitally
Squibbus88HELLO HERE IS A FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT NOT EVERY DIGITAL PS3 DECRYPTION KEY HAS BEEN PRESERVED
tamm71I state again, physical is not the answer. Physical media has never been the answer physical inevitably rots, gets damaged with use, and lost in any number of incidents. A robust P2P emulation and sharing community is what preserves all media for everyone. Nothing else.
🎃 October Keegan 🎃31It really cannot be overstated what profound, irreparable damage closing these stores will have on the history of gaming. The staggering amount of titles that will vanish forever (through official channels) is gut wrenching.
🧚🏻♀️ Becca 🧚🏻♀️17This is an example of why physical media is so important! When digital storefronts close down like this, entire game libraries can disappear.
Ullskay13Big brain move from Sony to announce them shutting down their old online stores the same day they announce they won’t physically make their new games to ensure I never buy a PlayStation again I got steam games I bought in 2009 I can still download and play
Dark Pact, Guest Lecturer13This is the future all console digital storefronts face. Its inevitable. I hope archivists have time to save everything digital only in those storefronts.
Gavin Astra~☆11Right after announcing no more physical media Sony pulls this!?!??! MY GUY
Scrappy Shark9hey remember when they tried this a few years back and everyone online bullied them into pulling back on the decision haha we should maybeee do that again haha...
GravitySecretAgent8Cool. Really cool. 😎👍 This will totally make me buy a PS5/PISS6/SixSeven in the near future. For no reason whatsoever here's a Trent Reznor quote.
Sony closing down PS3 store support sucks but I'm seeing people say "This is why it's bad we don't have physical media anymore!" when even on the PS3, the amount of degradation you get from JUST using original disks is huge. Physical media doesn't help if you don't own the actual game it represents.
Kayin445Your future access to console games you own now aren't reliant on owning a physical representation of your Game Lease License, it's reliant on a bunch of nerds somehow getting past all the that security and dumping everything in the hopes that one day an emulator will be able to load it.
Players must avoid the Popper Police or risk being popped.🏳️⚧️77Physical media is cool and its nice to have cool things, but we think people mistake is for actual preservation when, it really isn't. Backing that shit up is
Goggle Bob38I own Street Fighter 5 on disc so I will be able to play 10% of that game forever.
Kirsche 🐰🐱| (Commissions Open)31I'm so excited in 20 years to put my copy of Mortal Kombat 11 into my unmodified Nintendo Switch and only get to play like half of the base roster in their 1.0 states (maybe even slightly earlier) and almost none of the modes because they were part of a huge required download
Sixfortyfive25Thinking about how the Mario Wonder Switch 2 Edition cartridge that I bought literally refused to boot until I downloaded the day 1 patch. And it's *not* classified as a key card.
Mao Mao!22I think the idea that all you need to do to preserve video games is print the cartridges and discs should be shot down by LRG selling copies of Plumbers Don't Wear Ties advertised as playable on original hardware printed on a disc format the 3DO could not actually read.
Marc Normandin18Part of my process with older consoles in the HD era is grabbing a big enough hard drive to install and update everything, but even then you can't get *everything* on there that you might own, so these closures are a serious issue. Drives me nuts that Xbox installs from the store, not the disc, too!
🍻 Arrested For Piss Crimes 🍻16Even going back as far as "retro-retro" consoles, you get weird takes from people saying shit like "games back then didn't have bugs!" as if SNES cartridges never got revisions. That physical cartridge in your shelf may very well be the worst version of the game.
Jim Trinca7This is why the final death of it honestly barely registers as an event for me tbh. We're not talking about Mega Drive carts here. I own a physical copy of Cyberpunk 2077, I've barely played the version of the game that's actually on that disc and I wouldn't want to.
Mao Mao!7As Kayin points out, physical has just not been a great thing for while now either. A lot of time you just buy a disc with a key.
Adrienne Quelle6This whole thread sums up how I feel about the PS3 thing piracy as always continues to be the single most important thing in gaming as it’s the one surefite means of preservation and holding corporate assholes accountable keep circulating the tapes
Midi @ AX '265Part of this just reminds me that THPS5's disk only contains the tutorial level. You download the rest of the game as a patch.
Camel Bob Esponja sabor abacaxi5Na real, pra além do fato que nós não temos de fato posse sobre nenhuma mídia seja ela física ou digital, a preservação da produção cultura humana é impossível de ser feita totalmente dentro do sistema capitalista, mesmo com os esforços da pirataria e emulação ainda é um batalha praticamente perdida
Sony announced the PS3 and Vita online stores will be shut down globally by July 2027. Not only is Sony moving to a digital only model, but they are shutting down online stores too. Not a good day for fans of physical games or preservation. blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/a...
Vidvad 🦸5I'm always sad when this happens, we will lose access to so many games. Then I remember that emulation exists. If the company removes the possibility to buy a game, then I won't feel bad for pirating it.
Fruity Koala3Great fucking timing Sony "Hey we're going all-digital. We're also shutting down all-digital"
gshumi2Geez! They really did a one-two blow this morning.
Matt Frequencies1If the game can no longer be acquired legally, the company no longer owns the game. Surely that matches the intent of their TOS 😑
malicent hightower 🇮🇪🇵🇸1Fucking wow, dude. It’s a good thing the Vita at least is very easy to hack and mirrors exist, but this sucks.
Orion 🔜 Megaplex35I was already iffy on getting a PS6, but this soft confirms it’s digital only which is something I don’t support.
RED Ratchet30This is where I really start to crash out 💔
Will Wulff, Damn It!!23Sony are cowards for announcing this the day after we record our podcast Cowards I say!!
Knux 🐲23It’s extremely telling how you can announce that you’re no longer selling physical copies of games while simultaneously announcing alongside that you’re closing digital stores for past consoles.
Larx Arcanum21And while people will say 'Nintendo will be the last bastion for physical games', they will also crumble under the pressure. It's saddening to think about the possibility that my great nieces and nephews will never be able to own or even play the same games that impacted my life while growing up.
Joshua Hallaran | 8-Bit Adventures 212I'm in shock. I believe very strongly in ownership/physical releases/competitive pricing. But physical editions are also HUGELY beneficial to indie devs like myself - both financially & for community. I urge @playstation.com to reconsider; if not their own games, at least for 3rd parties.
HPX2Surely getting rid of one of the main advantages to owning a console over a pc will have 0 financial consequences in the future, right?
tony tone.2Bro lmfao a two for one! Sony is fucking killing it!!! Yeah man excellent we announce we are now digital only, also we are shutting down digital stores. This is not a concern for you citizen, buy from the digital store and be happy when it’s not available to you in the future.
Sony announces they will stop producing physical discs for PlayStation from January 2028. New video games will be released in digital formats only, through retailers and the PlayStation Store. (blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/p...)
sam-mayday-malone.bsky.social45You never own digital, you're just renting the license Sony recently removed some movies from their digital library Sony's storefront will now be the only way to buy games for PS PS6 will be over $1000 So - pay more for something you'll never own and they can take away at any time Bye sony
ChrisArts528If they do this we really need to have laws protecting digital properties from being taken down and discontinued.
❤️🔥 Aleks ❤️🔥13Here we fucking go 🙄
Which Witch R U 🏳️🌈12And lemme guess…soon you’ll have to pay a monthly fee to even access the games…like they’re already trying to do with PS+
Anthony11So first Nintendo started to normalize 80 price tag for games, Sony getting rid of physical disc's by 2028 and Microsoft just massively axing decades old game companies. Horrible managment all around
~ Señor Schröckli ~8where is a dislike button, when i need one?
Nutmegan12This is sinister. When a license on a piece of digital media runs out, it can be pulled from your library overnight. You are RENTING digital media.
Felix 🐀✨12Convenience and lack of space has driven me mostly digital but this is still a very sad development.
René レエネ 🐸👾🏳️🌈11No volveré a vender discos físicos y me aferraré al acervo :3
Sockono10Great. Now that's really something, considering how physical was a thing during the ps4 vs xone announcements. This is a move that will kill the pre-owned market. Now we clearly see what they really want. Their motto is "For the players" but they won't let us chose where to buy our games anymore. 🙄
👑 Cassandra K. Lennox9The thing is, we don't OWN digital games like we do physical copies. If it's digital, it can be altered, pay walled, or removed at any time, at Sony's profiteering whim. This also effectively kills the ability to buy secondhand games at cheaper prices, so full price is the only option.
Jack the Brown Cow8AND THIS IS WHY WE KEEP MAKING NOISE!!! If it’s not physical, YOU DO NOT OWN IT! They can pull the licensing or stop supporting certain games whenever they feel like it. The same way we make a fuss when tv/movie companies pull their stuff off streaming, the same thing is gonna happen
fufu7Ok well they better give me a rebate because I paid extra for the PS5 disc edition
♡ michi7ive mainly been a playstation gamer for most of my life but with this bullshit now ill make more of an effort to game on my pc and purchase my games on there 🖕🏼
Yukimi Lumaris | Author-Artist7There’s a guy on TikTok educating people how to make physical copies of media they buy. I’m not sure if he has something for digital game downloads, but it’s possible. Don’t remember his name tho I don’t personally want to drop $60-$100 on a game Sony could decide to poof whenever they want 🤷
Alexandria Stone6I still haven’t worked out how I feel about this. On the one hand, I’ve always felt like a minority for buying our games physically. And while I do love my steelbook cases, I think we have maybe 10? If anything, I think this is going to hurt retail stores the most. Who wants to buy an empty case?
Sony is ending the production of physical discs in January 2028, meaning that any game released after that will be exclusively digital. Also they're shutting down the PS3 and Vita Store. More info about that here: bsky.app/profile/syac...
Squid6something something you will own nothing, fuck corpos man
FF2At least game key cards still had a physical cartridge you can hold in your hand this is just absurd
(s)noey❄️🏳️⚧️2closing old consoles' digital stores the same day you announce that digital stores will become the only way to buy games has to be some of the foulest work i've ever seen
BadassFreeman1I suddenly feel like a certain CEO and a buncha shareholders from a certain japanese company deserve to be bullied heavily until they reverse this dumbass choice.
Zunde Eugene Esteed1What a crazy mentally aborted thing to announce literally days after stealing hundreds of movies people paid for out of their digital library.
Lex 🌸6No physical discs anymore shock me SO MUCH I bet they only do it to break the reselling game market Such a good idea in a world where digital additional memory cost sky rocketed because of fucking IA and games weight SO MUCH now
Lord Pyro4Retro gaming here I come!
Greenboy3Don't worry, backlog. I'll be joining you soon.
PlayStation has announced the end of disc games, starting in January 2028. Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only, it said. vgc.news/news/playsta...
kodalith.bsky.social40Well. Fuck PlayStation I guess.
Gareth Newnham38So let's get this straight. Sony has told everyone they'll happily delete your library and then said the only way they can get their games will be digitally. Galaxy brained messaging that.
Sean20So video games end in 2028, got it. (I’ll never pay £69.99 for a digital game, only justifiable for deep discount sales to offset the fact that there’s no way to know if you’ll be able to play it in 15-20 years like I can with PS1, PS2, GameCube, or Dreamcast games )
Alex B16Yeah... I don't think I'll be going any further than my PS5 now. It's not as if I don't already have a backlog that will take me decades to finish so all good. Maybe one day discs will have renaissance and I can enjoy my retirement playing games I actually own again.
Andrew McCarthy10Sony and MS are neck and neck in the ‘who’s the worst company’ race.
Mike Castoro10So much for it being fully backwards compatible lol Also funny they're doing this as lawsuits are looming for going into people's digital library for shows and movies they bought lmao
Linkara174NINTENDO: "Well, well, well! Suddenly cartridges ain't looking so bad now, are they?!"
CEO of Beckett Mariner15OTOH, RIP to GameStop's business model
CeramicToast on bsky!11Wild that they're saying this is due to "consumer preferences" when 99% of the conversations I've seen in the gaming community has been how digital only fucking sucks lmao
Jillbles8Motherfuckers. "You don't get to own games anymore. Ever. Games will be on a leased basis only, and you'll pay $100 each for the privilege. Also, there will be no more buying of used games at a discount. We shall control all pricing, forevermore."
Prince Rosalium, Parfum Nostalgique Dev🌹✨️8lmao i aint buying no ps5. get outta heeeeeeeeeeere with this shit. fughettaboutit!!!!!
Arlo Lee 🪩5So glad I spent extra cash for the physical disc slot thats super fucking cool
🐺💤4it’s just me and my Bloodborne machine against the world
Uncle Ludo | DonkeyTuber4Who’s been huffing paint to think this is a good idea? Stop trying to cut off physical media, it won’t work.
Busiris3Well, gang. It was a fun run but I guess I'm done being a gamer. Modern gaming culture was already sort of pushing me toward other interests that sparked me more, but Sony did the work to make sure that door is closed for me entirely.
Marcus Kyle Cotton3Also coming soon on PlayStation, Even more reasons to stop buying PlayStations bsky.app/profile/vide...
- End of an era for company that broke through with games on CD-ROMs - Suggests PS6 not releasing until 2028 (will it even have a disc drive?) - PS3/Vita stores set to close by mid-2027
TheCodeBlackDirective6Hybrid portable is the current rumour
J.I. Vicuña1And the stores closing in LatAm by the end of the year. We’re always the guinea pigs.
Filbert Wang1A day of shitty news for sure
Helena Brown1I'm thinking if the PS6 has a disc drive, it will be an optional add on like the PS5 Pro.
With PS3 the situation is direr than with PS Vita. Across all regions, only half of PSN has been preserved when it comes to games.
James Galizio 🔜 Anime Expo24It's not like stuff like this wasn't already public info if you bothered to check. If you actually cared about preservation you could see how getting emulation and dumping working early was important. bsky.app/profile/beyo...
JCP⭐Designs 👺10Yeah, see, this is why I think shutting down game marketplaces is a dire move
Vincent Smyth3PS3 Store and Vita Stores getting nuked by Sony over the next year is awful news. Large chunks of games and DLC not archived so it's going to be a scramble to get that done before stuff is gone forever.
Let’s sum things up recently with PlayStation - Increased PS5 Prices - Removed over 500 movies/TV shows from PS Store - Still wants to Focus on live service games after a whole generation of failure with them - Closed Bluepoint - Stop Disc Production in Jan 2028 What a joke…
tickdowntozero.bsky.social2I've played mostly on ps since ps1. Never before considered not getting the new PlayStation. Likely not getting PS6
Jos Freeman1You forgot they closed stores for vita and ps3
Mirrored Knight "Prinny"1Gaming companies really just competing to see who causes a crash first at this point...
teejaeche.bsky.social1Sony: *shoots own foot over and over again* "WHY ISN'T THIS MAKING ME MONEY?!"
Taash's Spare Horn190% of my library is physical. Fuck this timeline
Canna Biskate (she/they)6We will no longer be buying or supporting Sony or Microsoft. Pretty sure I’m just going to revert back to my old game systems and games. So tired of everything being driven by investors rather than consumers
Ochan45AfterDark 🏳️🌈🔜CLAW 26🔜IML 263At this point I can say Sony is done. They really lost touch with the base that got them this far and now they think they have enough pull to survive all of this.
Sony-We're are shutting down our store for ps3/vita you'll still be able to access everything...for now Also sony-No more physical! But you can download games from our reliable digital store! We promise we will always be there 4U💜 Irony that is post is all in one. They must think so little of us
MOBOO/mobooly 🎨2I'm taking revenge and gonna buy a pirated PS4 and play games PIRATED
Alexander Thomas | Now Playing: Crimson Desert1This news has me excited to play my backlog and retro games.
sniper D. gamester1And I shall think even less of them, should the day it somehow backfires... or IF even. But I know I will laugh if it's ever the case.
Matt Whyte1They've made me so angry the last few weeks, the fact aswell they made Bungie end the live service of Destiny 2 (their biggest Live service game that had success) only for sony to recently say they are "revitalising live service", it being a spit in the face, then this? Fuck Sony honestly
nshade666.bsky.social1Sony: Dear sirs,madame,etc We would respectfully like to inform you that any illusions of ownership will be robbed from you today by SCEI Signed SCEI
Aldanar1They absolutely do think so little of the customer, because customers don't take them to task. They can do anything and customers will never say, "fine, then we'll stop buying."
As much as rising digital share is the primary contributor, this is also a platform holder decision at this point, with Sony doing this to both cut costs of disc & hardware production, increase its control over the resale / used market, and drive 100% of revenue through the PlayStation Store.
Daniel Ahmad315Anyway, the larger conversation to be had here is around digital rights and what a license should enable. This needs to be a larger consumer rights issue going forward to push for new rules that allow for clear rules around refunds and end of life access etc.
💫 Destiny-Smasher 👊7And it’s shitty and anti-consumer but absolutely predictably shitty and expectedly anti-consumer. 🫠
Peter G5Games won't be cheaper, though. I could maybe swallow an all-digital future if Sony announced games would then be $40-50. Instead, we have GTA 6 coming out for fucking $100 and it's only digital. This just sucks.