More Thoughts From Me #265: Closing Down the (Digital) Shop

This week we got rumors that the PS3/PSP/Vita digital stores will be shutting down this year. Usually I do not report or even talk about rumors. That said, the closing of those shops will happen sooner or later! What do I think of digital stores closing? Let’s dig into it.

Its always tough when digital store fronts close down. We all know why this happens: digital stores take up server space for companies. They cost money to keep up and when companies have moved on to focus on another system, well, sooner or later the old digital store front has to go.

Yes it always comes down to money. So we understand why this happens…but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.

The problem with closing down digital stores is that once the store front is gone, then you can’t buy any new games from it. Usually you can still redownload anything you bought before. People always worry about that. The truth is that we don’t know for how long you’ll be able to redownload stuff. Maybe one of these days the ability for redownloading will be completely gone.

I’ve seen people worry about updates for games too. Will you still be able to get updates for your games after the store closes? You should be. Though again, the question is for how long? Some of these updates actually make games playable…

I remember when the Wii shop closed down, you could still redownload games. I did a search online and appears that you still can redownload Wii games. I do not have access to a Wii to verify this.

Of course many of us do move on to the next console when it comes out and stop playing our older systems, so not all of us are worried about this problem. There are people who still play the Wii or the PS3 or the Vita that may be very worried.

I think the biggest issue is imagining all the money you’ve spent on digital stores. Imagine if you didn’t have access to all of those games anymore. Buying digital can be easy and convenient, but buying physical gives you reassurance that you’ll have the games forever.

There are pluses and minuses to buying digital. I find lately, due to the pandemic, I like buying digital more. I don’t go anywhere so its easy to just buy from the eshop or PSN when I can.

Its concerning though what will happen in the future when the Nintendo Switch eshop closes. Will we be able to continue to redownload our games? What about the updates that make our games better? And thats not even mentioning the part where they shut down online multiplayer…

Some games from the Playstation 3 could be brought over to the PS4 and some PS4 games will go to the PS5.

Systems like the Wii U and 3DS are not so lucky. All of your Wii games could go to the Wii U (cause there was a Wii shop available there) but the way of accessing the Wii portion of the Wii U was pretty clunky.

Since digital shops have to close eventually, companies really should try to make it easier to redownload games on your new system and have access to much older games via services like PS Now and Game Pass. That seems like it could be a solution to the digital store closing problem…

In the end, the best solution is buying physical whenever possible. Though…there’s still the update issue. sigh. It never ends.

What do you think? Are you worried about the PS3/PSP/Vita stores closing? Do you dread the day the Switch eshop will close? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

More thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. I am not looking forward to the day when you can’t play New Horizons online anymore.