TheGamer's report that PlayStation will be closing its PS3, PSP, and PS Vita stores was confirmed last month. That has understandably resulted in a lot of backlash from console owners, especially those who still own and use one or more of those systems. While Xbox appears to be doing everything it possibly can to preserve its history via Game Pass and backwards compatibility, PlayStation continues to give off the impression that it doesn't really care about its history at all.
Analysis by Video Games Chronicle has revealed more than 2000 games will completely disappear from PlayStation platforms when the three stores are closed. While a large number of those games are still available on other platforms, 138 of them will become unavailable to buy anywhere. If you have purchased them previously, you will be able to redownload them. However, if you don't buy them before July 2, 2021, on PS3 or PSP, or August 27, 2021, for the Vita titles, you may miss out on them forever.
The full list of games disappearing forever, or at least for the time being, can be found below. All of them are digital-only, so there won't even be an opportunity to track down and buy a rare and expensive physical copy. The list also includes titles that are available via PlayStation Now, and also games that have already disappeared in certain regions.
PS3
- Armageddon Riders
- Blast Factor
- Bomberman Ultra
- Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter HD
- Catan
- Comet Crash
- Crash Commando
- Datura
- Eat Them!
- Echochrome II
- Funky Lab Rat
- Hamster Ball
- High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition
- High Velocity Bowling
- Infamous: Festival of Blood
- Kung-Fu Live
- The Last Guy
- Legasista
- Linger in Shadows
- Lumines Supernova
- Magic Orbz
- Magus
- Novastrike
- PixelJunk 4 am
- PixelJunk Racers
- Planet Minigolf
- Punisher: No Mercy
- Rain
- Savage Moon
- Spelunker HD
- Super Rub a Dub
- Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars
- Tales from Space: About a Blob
- Trash Panic
- Wakeboarding HD
PSP
- 101-in-1 Megamix
- Ape Quest
- Armored Core: Last Raven Portable
- Armored Core: Silent Line Portable
- Armored Core 3 Portable
- Beats
- Black Rock Shooter – The Game
- Brandish: The Dark Revenant
- Carnage Heart EXA
- Cho Aniki Zero
- Cladun: This is an RPG!
- Creature Defense
- Crimson Room: Reverse
- Dissidia 012 Prologus: Final Fantasy
- Go! Puzzle
- Gravity Crash Portable
- Hot Shots Shorties Blue Pack
- Hot Shots Shorties Green Pack
- Hot Shots Shorties Red Pack
- Hot Shots Shorties Yellow Pack
- I am an Air Traffic Controller Airport Hero Tokyo
- Kurulin Fusion
- LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival
- NeoGeo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting
- No Heroes Allowed!
- Numblast
- Patchwork Heroes
- Piyotama
- Savage Moon: The Hera Campaign
- Super Stardust Portable
- Susume Tactics!
- Talkman Travel: Paris
- Talkman Travel: Rome
- Talkman Travel: Tokyo
- Thexder Neo
PS Vita
- Battle Rockets
- Bodycheck
- Boss!
- Breakquest Extra Evolution
- Chronovolt
- Coconut Dodge Revitalised
- Die!Die!Die!
- Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable
- Ecolibrium
- Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims HD!
- Flying Hamster HD
- Frobisher Says!
- Furmins
- The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character
- Indoor Sports World
- Jungle Rumble Freedom Happiness and Bananas
- Kilka Card Gods
- Knobswitch
- Lemmings Touch
- Let’s Fish! Hooked On
- Licky The Lucky Lizard Lives Again
- Magical Beat
- Malicious Rebirth
- Maliya
- Men’s Room Mayhem
- Monsterbag
- Murasaki Baby
- Nekoburo Cats Block
- Ninja Usagimaru: Two Tails of Adventure
- Open Me!
- Orgarhythm
- Pinball Heroes Complete
- PlayStation Vita Cliff Diving
- PlayStation Vita Fireworks
- PlayStation Vita Table Soccer
- PulzAR
- Puzzle by Nikoli V Slitherlink
- Puzzle by Nikoli V Sudoku
- Reel Fishing Masters Challenge
- Ring Run Circus
- Run Like Hell!
- Sketchcross
- Sokoban Next
- Squares
- Stardrone Extreme
- Stranded a Mars Adventure
- Sumioni: Demon Arts
- Super Stardust Delta
- Surge Deluxe
- Table Ice Hockey
- Table Mini Golf
- Table Top Racing
- Table Top Tanks
- The Hungry Horde
- TXK
- Vitamin Z
- Z-Run
PS3 and PS Vita
- Bentley’s Hackpack
- Big Sky Infinity
- Deathmatch Village
- Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock
- Foosball 2012
- Germinator
- Gravity Crash
- Motorstorm RC
- Ms. Germinator
- Murasaki Mist Akara’s Journey
- When Vikings Attack!
If you have been holding back or like the sound of any of the games above, buy them now before it's too late. For these 138 titles, this might not be a case of missing out on the game until they come back around. As it stands, they will become completely unavailable. Even worse, there will now be some games that were in development for Vita that will never see the light of day.