In addition to announcing plans to end the production of physical discs for new PlayStation-released games in January 2028, Sony is also planning to shut down two digital storefronts. The PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita will be closed in select markets starting later this year and continuing into 2027.
Once the PS3 and Vita stores are closed, owners of those platforms will no longer be able to make new digital purchases. Sony has provided the following timeline for when the PS3 and Vita stores will be closed:
- Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua – PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting August 2026.
- Additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries – PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting late 2026.
- In all other countries, PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita will close in July 2027.
Sony writes in its PlayStation Blog post, “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming. PS3 and PS Vita represent an important era in our PlayStation history, so this was not an easy decision for us to make. As we continue to expand the PlayStation experience on newer devices that most of our users are playing on today, we need to focus more resources on delivering the best gaming experiences on these platforms as we look ahead towards the future.”
The PlayStation 3 was the first platform to host the PlayStation Store, which first launched in 2006. This marks the end of a 20-year run of the storefront on that platform. It’s also the first time Sony has closed a digital storefront for its legacy platforms, a move Nintendo and Xbox have already executed for the Wii U/3DS and Xbox 360 stores, respectively, in recent years.
In other PlayStation news, Sony announced plans to remove hundreds of purchased movies and TV shows by Studio Canal from their digital libraries due to expiring content licensing agreements.
