Sony made a rather sad announcement yesterday. It’s shutting down the PlayStation Portable’s PlayStation Store. By which I mean, you won’t be to access the PlayStation Store on the handheld. PSP games will still be up for sale on the general PlayStation Store, playable on PSPs and Vitas. And you can still put said games on your system. You just can’t browse the store from your handheld anymore.
Which really isn’t too sad. The simplest means of going through the PlayStation Store on the system is out, but that doesn’t completely cut people off. It’s easy enough to use other methods to get the games you want on there. Sony’s left us extra options, so long as you have a USB cable.
All you’d have to do is connect the PSP to a PC or PS3. Odds are people who own the handheld have one of those things. Connecting to the PlayStation Store, downloading the things you want to the PC or PS3, and then transferring them over is easy enough. Though, in the case of the PC, it does involve MediaGo. Still, nobody’s being locked out.
Which is important, because the PSP has been relying on digital copies of games as of late. Sure, we’re down to under 3 PSP game releases a year, but it happens. And the PSPgo relies upon digital. That Sony is still leaving people options, despite cutting off the most direct source, is a reassuring action that shows digital doesn’t mean all access to your library is lost when a system dies. We’re still getting other ways.
Besides, we should be thankful the PSP’s PlayStation Store stayed open as long as it did. The system was discontinued in 2014 and was mismanaged by Sony prior to that (Hey, just like the PlayStation Vita!). That the store did stay open until 2016 is something of an accomplishment.
Yes, there is some sadness that comes from the PSP’s PlayStation Store closing. That era already ended, but taking away the feature reminds us again of what we’ve lost. Still, we shouldn’t be too broken up about this development. All of our games are there. Sony hasn’t taken them away and, at least for now, we have relatively easy access to them.