It’s the end of an era later this year, when Sony sunsets its PlayStation 3, PSP, and PS Vita digital storefronts. Those banana stands have seen an influx of activity lately, with many players seeking to download as many of the rare and platform-exclusive games before the chance to do so is taken away from them.
The only catch here? It seems like some vital content has already been removed from the stores, as several players have reported that a number of titles no longer include their patches. As reported by Gfinity and as seen on ResetEra and PSNProfiles, players have begun reporting missing patches for games such as Battlefield 4 and Gran Turismo 5. It seems to be a regional issue for now, but for those territories affected it means that online play is out of the question and earning a coveted Platinum trophy isn’t possible without some of these updates.
That also means that some games have gone back to their pre-patched state, which for a number of them, is big Yikes energy. 007 Legends, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Dante’s Inferno, Fuel, Journey, Just Cause 2, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, LittleBigPlanet GOTY Edition, Payday 2, SoulCalibur IV, and Twisted Metal are all some of the affected games
It’s unclear yet if this move is intentional or accidental, but it does go against the email that Sony sent out last week detailing the PS3 and PSP store closures on July 2, 2021, with the PS Vita following the same path on August 27. Sony at the time said that it “decided to make these changes in an effort to focus our resources for PlayStation Store on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, which will enable us to enhance the customer experience even further.”
While you’ll still be able to download any games that you had recently purchased, there’s still a fair chunk of content that was exclusively released on those consoles through their digital stores. According to VGC, that library sits at around 2,200 digital-only games, made up of 630 Vita titles, 730 digital-only PS3 games, 336 PS2 Classic games, and a small number of digital-only PSP games. I still think UMDs were underrated.
Last Updated: April 13, 2021
