Gaming fans awoke to upsetting news this week when Sony confirmed that the online store for older platforms such as the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita will be officially shut down. All three of these devices are home to now-classic titles, many of which are encouraged to be downloaded before the PlayStation store closes for good.

While this recent turn of events is sure to be a melancholic experience for gamers with many memories throughout the generations of PlayStation, this situation does not spell doom and gloom. The PlayStation brand continues on strong, and with the recent successful launch of the PS5, Sony is establishing its position going into this next generation of gaming. With such a vast back library available, there may be a plan in place to add these titles to the newer PS5 store interface going forward.

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The Best Place To Play

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With the PS5 already off to a smashing sales start and the PS4 remaining hugely popular, still supporting the networks for older consoles may be too much to keep track of all at once. The PS3 alone is the oldest console in the aforementioned group being shut down, releasing all the way back in late 2006, which translates to two console generations of gaming ago. Going forward, the focus will undoubtedly be to support the PS5 and its many applications, one of which being to beef up its online presence and store catalogue.

The number of iconic PlayStation games that have been released from the PS1 all the way to the present is truly staggering, something which Sony surely recognizes and will want to capitalize on. There are without a doubt a ton of PlayStation 5 exclusives on the way in the future, but both older and newer PlayStation owners alike would love the ability to have all these games available in one place. Both of the competing consoles offer a similar solution to gamers, with Xbox's backwards compatibility and Nintendo making the NES and SNES libraries available through Switch's online service. Sony may be readying its own legacy alternative for its fanbase.

Past, Present and Future

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Instead of having to own every single console to play its respective games, many players would hugely appreciate being able to access all of these titles in one place, backwards compatibility or otherwise. If Sony is indeed pulling down older stores in preparation to move all of these titles to the newest console, it would make the company's latest console effort the ultimate PlayStation. To have access to generation-defining PlayStation games that span nearly three decades, easily accessible on one device, would be a dream come true for longtime PlayStation gamers and newcomers to the platform alike.

The PS5 is being embraced by gamers, with a growing user base every day, hungry for more content. On the other hand, the PS Vita sadly underperformed in its time, with many great games falling under the radar. If these titles were optimized for PS5, it would breath new life into games that deserve a second chance, and just generally make portable only games playable on a bigger screen (a feature which would apply to the PSP as well). This is of course speculation and it remains to be seen what Sony's true plans are going forward. Still, it would seem strange to completely lockout the digital existence of so many beloved classics with no possible way to regain access to them.

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