Sony has had to do some considerable backtracking this year after initially deciding the PS3, PS Vita, and PSP stores were set to close. The backtrack began when Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, decided the PS3 and PS Vita stores would remain open, and now PSP owners are getting a partial reprieve, too.
As IGN reports, an update to the PlayStation support website has clarified the situation for PSP games. Until now, it was thought that purchasing PSP games would become impossible this month. That remains the case on the PSP itself, but Sony added “You’ll still be able to purchase and play PSP content that is available on the PS3 and PS Vita stores. However, you’ll no longer be able to make purchases via the in-game store for PSP content.”
So from July 6, you won’t be able to perform searches or make in-game purchases on the PSP, but if there’s PSP content available for sale via the PlayStation store on PS3 or PS Vita, you can still buy it. Then it’s just a case of downloading it to your PSP as the content should be available as part of your PlayStation account. And any existing purchases linked to your account can be re-downloaded as and when you want to play them.
Sony really hasn’t handled this situation well, and although things are a lot clearer now, we’ve been left with most of the content still being available to purchase across the three platforms, only it’s harder to buy it now. My fingers are crossed that Sony has another moment of clarity and brings back the web-based versions of these PlayStation stores.
