While Sony is focused on the PlayStation 5, many of its older consoles still hold passionate fanbases that use their older consoles to this day. Nearly a decade has passed since the PS3 was Sony's premiere console, but the console's library of unique games remains popular with its fans and the PS Vita maintains a niche audience with a small audience still using the handheld despite its commercial failure. Now, a new update to the consoles has left some fans puzzled and annoyed.

While Sony had previously announced the impending closure of the PlayStation store on its older defunct consoles, fervent pushback from fans of the consoles silenced those claims. Though the consoles don't see the widespread use they once did, the PS Vita continues to see maintenance to its online store with a recent fix addressing an issue with purchasing PS Classics games. PS3 games have long been a prominent part of the PlayStation Now library, but now, a new firmware update will prevent fans from creating new PlayStation Network accounts on the older consoles.

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Sony stealth-launched a firmware update for the PS3 and PS Vita on Tuesday with no official confirmation about the hard details of the update. While the consoles are no stranger to more infrequent updates addressing bugs and maintaining the systems, the newest update will reportedly remove a major feature from Sony's older consoles. PS3 and Vita users will now no longer be able to create accounts natively from the PS3 or the PS Vita, instead prompting those fans to create an account through Sony's website on the PC or a mobile browser.

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The report also mentioned some unspecified account management features will also be inaccessible from the PS3 and PS Vita, once again requiring fans to use an outside browser. These changes have angered many of the old consoles' devout fanbase with the newest update removing major features, instead requiring those fans to use outside sources to create new accounts. The firmware update will be the first for the PS3 since July 2021 with the Vita not seeing any updates in a significantly longer period of time. Vita's Version 3.73 came out in October 2019.

Sony's push to sunset its classic consoles comes as the company is gearing to make major updates to its premium offerings with the upcoming overhaul of PlayStation Plus looking to keep the legacy of these classic consoles alive. Sony announced in March the new tiered PlayStation Plus service will offer a selection of its classic games from the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP for players to enjoy at the service's highest level. Fans of Sony's older consoles may be sad to see account creation gone, but those passionate fans will likely continue to enjoy the classic consoles for years to come.

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Source: DualShockers