Some players reckon that it won’t be long before Sony fully pulls the plug on PS3’s PS Store after Xbox 360 marketplace shutdown. The company had originally planned to shut PS3’s store down back in 2021, but was met with swift backlash, resulting in a reversal of the decision.
PS3 Store has limited functionality, but Xbox 360 marketplace has shut down completely
Although Sony decided to keep the PS3 store alive after backlash, its functionality was severely limited. Purchases cannot be made via web or mobile store, for instance, and no payment methods work other than PS Wallet funds. Nevertheless, players were happy with what they got as it certainly beat not being able to purchase games digitally altogether.
Fast forward to today, when Xbox 360’s beloved store finally shut down for good. Players on sites like Reddit are expressing hope that Sony doesn’t follow suit, especially because Xbox owners enjoy full backwards compatibility but PlayStation owners don’t.
In other words, the only way to buy and play PS3 games right now is to own the actual system alongside downloading games digitally or finding their disc versions. There are rumors that Sony is attempting PS3 game emulation, but that’ll likely be for select games.