PlayStation Could Beat Nintendo to the Punch with Backwards Compatibility
After an initial report by TheGamer, Sony confirmed that legacy digital stores for old hardware will indeed be shutting down by summer 2021. By July 2, 2021, the PlayStation Store services on PS3 and PSP will be shut down, with minimal support for re-downloading previously purchased games and media after the shutdown. The PS Vita receives a similar treatment on August 27 of this year as well. At first, fans were worried that much of the digital content on the storefront would be lost forever, but now that backlash has transformed into disappointment. Many want a Virtual Console-style backwards compatibility effort on Sony's part, which isn't implausible.
Virtual Console has been a highly requested addition to the Nintendo Switch ever news came out stating it wouldn't return. Pair that with the proven capability of the Switch's NES/SNES Online games, as well as Super Mario 3D All-Stars showing native emulation is possible, and it's understandable why fans want Virtual Console to return. However, with PlayStation's stores for PS3/PSP/PS Vita going offline this summer, Sony could potentially beat Nintendo to the punch by implementing a similar service. There is very little precedent that could prove Sony will do this, by any means, but Sony has shown some renewed interest in backwards compatibility with PS5.
Obviously the biggest reason why these stores are being shut down is presumably to free up resources for expanding Sony's modern digital services for PlayStation. With the last of these consoles being discontinued (PS Vita manufacturing was discontinued in 2019), shutting down digital services two years later makes a lot of sense. Considering there's less and less active PS3/PSP/PS Vita consoles than there ever were, freeing up potential infrastructure to boost the PS5's digital services is an understandable compromise. However, there is the possibility that freeing up these resources could be in service of crafting a Virtual Console-esque framework for PS5.
Understand that this is pure speculation, as Sony has made no indication that this is the company's intention for PlayStation, but it isn't an entirely illogical progression. The PlayStation Now subscription has done a similar job with PS3, PS2, and PS1 games in the past, albeit in a more limited capacity compared to Nintendo's previous Virtual Console iterations. However, whether through PlayStation Now or a separate backwards compatibility-specific service, perhaps the PS5 could support the purchasing and playing of legacy titles in some way. That way, players don't lose out on the many digital/exclusive PS Vita, PS3, or PSP games they may have missed.
If anything, PlayStation could potentially be grabbing inspiration from Xbox, which has made a significant effort in supporting backwards compatibility. SIE CEO Jim Ryan once stated back in 2017 that backwards compatibility was a "much requested, little-used feature" that was ultimately scrapped after the first PS3 for that reason. Former SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida reiterated how difficult it is to set up backwards compatibility since the PS4 eschewed the technology entirely. However, Xbox indeed made the difficult effort of implementing and expanding backwards compatibility on Xbox One, and now Xbox Series X/S as well.
There are now hundreds and potentially thousands of Xbox 360, original Xbox games, and now Xbox One games, available to play on Xbox Series X/S now. It's been a long time coming, but ever since the service was announced and first implemented back in 2015, backwards compatibility has become a staple in the Xbox ecosystem. Nintendo has made a comparatively more focused and curated backwards compatibility effort on Nintendo Switch, similar to what PlayStation has already done. That being said, PlayStation could certainly be impressed by the support backwards compatibility has received on Xbox, and may perhaps implement a similar system in the future.
Is that system going to be implemented specifically because of the PS3/PSP/PS Vita stores being shut down later this year? Well, probably not. PlayStation has indeed shown an unusual willingness to diverge from its largely forward-thinking business strategies in the last year or two. That much is evident with PlayStation's recent desire to bring more PlayStation exclusive games to PC, paired with PlayStation Now already offering many PS3/PS2 games via its game streaming service. PS4 games are basically all natively backwards compatible on PS5 as well, save for very few exceptions. Perhaps PlayStation may be willing to take this initiative one step further.
If these digital games were ever to see a resurgence in the PlayStation ecosystem somehow, the most logical place on PS5 to do that would be PlayStation Now. Considering previous PS3 titles were brought to PlayStation Now as a form of limited backwards compatibility, the same could be applied to old PSP and PS Vita games. In fact, perhaps the very impetus of the digital store shutdowns in the first place could've been to free up infrastructure to support an evolution of PlayStation Now in the first place. Adding additional PS3, PSP, and PS Vita titles to this same service, as part of a larger expansion of PlayStation Now on PS5, would make a lot of sense.
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