In case you missed it, Sony has now reneged on their promise to close the PS3 and PS Vita stores. Originally, the plan was to have these stores close as well as the PSP store. Now though, it’s just the PSP store that’s closing. I think this is okay because most, if not all, PSP games are going to be on the PS Vita store too. You can still get them. Plus, the PSP has a bit physical roster for people to work through if they’re really that fussed about doing so. The PS3 and PS Vita stores were about to be the real tragic loss, but now it looks like Sony is listening to its fans. That’s a very strange turn of events, but I think it bodes well for the future.
Sony has had a fair bit of bad press when it comes to backward compatibility and older games. They killed PlayStation Home even though it had a dedicated player base. They didn’t want to put as much into backward compatibility on the PS5 as Microsoft is doing with the Xbox Series X/S, and then there’s this store closure situation. Overall, the company just doesn’t seem to care about the past. I think part of this is the Japanese culture of discarding old stuff forever. It’s completely normal and acceptable, but not for the rest of us.
For the wider world, there’s a care and attention that we pay to history. Looking back at old games is always fun, regardless of whether those games were good or not. We can learn about the studio that made them, the time period, and maybe even ourselves by experiencing them. That’s all lost when those games disappear though. Finally, Sony looks to be listening to its fans, which can only bode well for the future.
The bottom line here is that Sony needs to do something about fixing its mistakes. Bring older games to a place where they’re accessible forever, don’t start killing old stores off, and give fans what they want when it comes to legacy content. It’ll only help the company’s relationship with its fans, so I don’t see a downside to it paying a little more attention to us.