Silent Hill PS1 Will Be Lost Once Sony Closes The PS3, PSP And PS Vita Stores, And That's Not Cool

From PSU: "Sony Interactive Entertainment‘s announcement that it is shuttering the PS3, PS Vita and PSP storefronts came with a wave of criticism. After all, the preservation of digital games is something we should all consider, and the repercussions of these legacy stores going the way of the Dodo are pretty major – once they’re shut, you can’t download any titles for those formats anymore."

[Sonic-and-Crash]

probably they r preparing the whole classic PS1 library to appear on PS5 ..so stay calm

[Jericho1337]

All for a nominal fee of course 😆

Hopefully they’ll start migrating their legacy titles to PS now, would make the service way more enticing.

[Jericho1337]

Yes I’m well aware of that... having to buy games again though is the problem.

[septemberindecember]

@Saishi

I think they are suggesting that you'll have to buy the game again to play it on PS5 if they do make a PS1 library available for PS5. Which I'd agree with, that's probably what would happen.

[RazzerRedux]

I don't think they are. I think Jim Ryan is fine with letting everything prior to PS4 just die on the vine.

[arkard]

ItS a GrEaT dEaL

[moriarty1889]

it sure seems that way.

[TheColbertinator]

"It just works"

[Petebloodyonion]

I think that Jim's problem is that you get to buy these games for next to nothing on Vita/PSP/Ps3 when they can charge you the premium price on PS5.
Why would Sony patent the idea of Trophy vs emulation for Legacy title.

So expect Sony to have Legacy title on PS5 or rebranding PSnow as the place Legacy title (and I would not be suprised that try to add Sega Genesis, Neo Geo, and other legacy consoles except for Nintendo).

[gamer7804]

yup, jim ryan is the new don mattrick...

[DogJosha]

@Saishi I bet you feel like you have ownership when the PS store closes down. Face it, digital is the death of ownership and I saw this coming the day that that digital downloads were first announced. People even tried telling me they wouldn't shut down servers in our lifetime.

[Skuletor]

The PS4 never let me play my digital PS1 and 2 games that I boughtand played on the PS3, I don't expect they'd let me play them on the PS5 either

[bouzebbal]

Stay calm over an assumption from a random guy on n4g forum? Thanks for the laugh
Closing ps3 and vita stores is a d### move from PlayStation.. how about online play? Anyone knows?

[Abear21]

This. Fully expect PSNow to expand and try to give more value to match Gamepass. Of course it’ll continue to be a fee driven service— to play all the games they just pulled the plug on, but really what else should we expect?

[WelkinCole]

My copy on the PS1 is not going to disappear. Like all my other games

[DogJosha]

@WelkinCole CDs start to go bad within 10 years if it's a bad batch, and becomes a more widespread problem after 20 years. Silent Hill is 22 years old now so you could literally lose it any day now depending on luck.

[x_xavier_x]

@ DogJosha

Commercially produced CDs do not go bad within 10 years. The Library of Congress conducted a study that showed the lifespan of CDs and CD-ROMs to be at least 25 years and that figure could easily double if the media is stored properly. I have hundreds of CDs from the 80s and they all still work.

Interestingly, writable CD discs actually have a longer shelf life than commercial discs. Some claim up to 100 years, but there is no way to prove it, so who knows.

[gamer7804]

the nintendo model is not a good one....

[IMissJimRyan]

Don't worry. Jim Ryan is going to give you an opportunity to buy this game for the 3rd or 4th time. Sony is love and never make mistakes.

[Silly gameAr]

Let's go make some more trash articles about the same thing over and over again, and get those pitchforks ready.

That's what real gamers, and not fanboys or garbage clickbait sites would do.

[RazzerRedux]

"Don't worry. Jim Ryan is going to give you an opportunity to buy this game for the 3rd or 4th time."

Why would he? Ryan is on record as saying no one wants to play those old games anyway. You are giving Jim Ryan far too much credit for even having a vision for old games. He doesn't.

"Sony is love and never make mistakes."

You do realize you are commenting on an article from PlayStation Universe calling out Sony explicitly for this, right?

[Father__Merrin]

Jim Ryan out.....Tretron back....

[moriarty1889]

that would be a dream come true. Ryan is a moron of the highest order.

[DOMination-]

Andrew House was the PlayStation overlord before Jim Ryan - Jack Tretton was to my knowledge only in charge of SIE America.

[Army_of_Darkness]

@loco 🤣🤣 that comment cracked me up bro! "sony is love and never makes mistakes"
They do, just not nearly as much as MS Xbox... Sony shutting down PS3 for reason and that reason is to stop bleeding money . Anybody who has a PS3, psp or vita most likely has all the games that they want to play on it by now so why continue to keep the PS3 store online? Just a waste of resources. It all makes sense when you look outside the box.

[Knushwood Butt]

I literally went through the entire Vita store last night deciding what to grab and the only thing I decided on was the expansion DLC for Velocity X, and even then, I would probably never get around to playing it.

There was one other thing but just woke up and can't even remember what it was so can't have been that important.

I do want Gradius V PS2 classic for PS3 though.

[Chocoburger]

Video game preservation is important. There will be humans that aren't even born yet that will eventually want to play PS3 / PSP / PS Vita games. Its easy to hack all 3 consoles of course, so that will be the only method going forward.

There are plenty of exclusive games locked to PS3 / PSP that will be gone for good, from MGS 4 to Crisis Core FF7 (UMD only because S-E gotta be like that).

Old games have value, I've been playing more retro games than ever before in fact. I own 4 EverDrives, N64, SNES, GEN, NES, and its been a lot of fun playing tons of classic games from 30 years ago. Eventually PS3 will be a 'classic console' as well, and people will want to go back and check out games they missed.

Stop thinking about today and tomorrow. Think beyond your narrow mindset. Video game preservation is important, and the fact is, piracy is the only true form of preservation because Sony and Nintendo simply don't care. Microsoft cares, but only a little, and only to make up for their lack of quality modern games.

[Knushwood Butt]

I remembered. it was the God of War 1 and 2 remasters for Vita. I'll get that used on cart.

[snake-OO]

Nintendo has been doing the same for decades, It doesn't make it right but at the end of the day, its business. If very small amount of people are buying ps3 games, then they have to evaluate if its cost effective to keep something up and running.

[Terry_B]

Meanwhile..Andy just downloaded the PS1 Iso in less than 4 Minutes and is going to play it via Emulator now.

[Father__Merrin]

They need to bring all released digital games to ps5 store

[-Foxtrot]

It's still shitty of them to not release PS1 games on the PS4/PS5 when so many people bought PS1 classics on the PS3

I bought Spyro, all 3, during the last year of the PS3 before the PS4 because it took that long for them to come out in the EU. Didn't even get around to 3 as the PS4 released and I had to move on, I just assumed they'd let us play them on the PS4.

[sourOG]

They are about to be worth something.
It happens to everything, classics are cool.

[Brazz]

Silent Hill PS1 Will Be Lost Once... remake coming soon, just wait.

[Magog]

It's not lost. You can still buy the disc version.

[northpaws]

They don't actually want it, they just want to complain.

[Knushwood Butt]

I bought the PS1 disc over 10 years ago, as it's a series I care about (up to a point).

I fired it up a few months ago on PS3 and got up to the school, although have beaten it in the past. Very atmospheric and creepy game.

If anyone genuinely wants to preserve the game, get the original disc.

[moriarty1889]

that sucks.

[anast]

Could Sony transfer the games to PC for preservation? Or someone that wants to make an online video game museum?

[VersusDMC]

Every single PS1 game is available for you to download on the internet. Not legally i guess but if there's no option to buy it what can you do?. There's no PS1 classics for Rival Schools or Fear Effect on US PSN but i got them on my PSP somehow...😎

[SDuck]

With the success Capcom had remaking RE1, 2 and 3, you'd think Silent Hill would start getting the same treatment

[Stanjara]

Yeah, I just bought Lone Survivor...2d Silent Hill... Sadly closest thing on ps4.
Konami cammmouun!

[Orchard]

It’s not lost - get an Xbox and run the PS1 emulator on it. How ironic that Xbox is now the only console where you can enjoy Sony’s awesome back catalog.

Imagine if someone gets RPCS3 running on it too...

[VersusDMC]

Xbox will not be the only place you can play PS1 games...
PSP's can also for sure run all PS1 games. Don't know about what mods are available for PS3 and Vita but im pretty sure you can run PS1 games on those as well.

[Orchard]

True, but Xbox is the only console to play on going forward - without doing some form of jailbreak/modchip.

Obviously excluding anyone who still has a PSP, PS1/2, or was lucky enough to have a rare launch PS3 with back compat - but obviously those consoles will slowly die over time too.

It's just sad that Sony has let it come to this - so many good games sitting in their back catalog.

[SonyStyled]

All PS3 models play PS1 games, as well as all Vita models. However the vita is not a console, it’s TV counterpart is a micro console

[Yusi-D-Jordan]

So will Metal Gear Solid 1. I really hope they'll reopen on PS5.

All Sony has to do to win every buyer over, is just to activate software emulation for PS1, PS2 & PS3 games, and sell them on PSN. They even have the tech now to do trophies on them. It would destroy every other console.

[jznrpg]

I have the disc . Also own the PS3 HD collection . Or you can still download it if you own it . These stupid articles

[P_Bomb]

Me too! Holding on to it with white knuckles, heh.

[Orchard]

But what console can run the SH1 disk?

And the PS3 HD collection doesn't include SH1 (and sadly, the versions of SH2/3 included are inferior versions when compared to the original SH2/3 on PS2).

[Knushwood Butt]

My PS3 runs my legit copy of Silent Hill just fine.

[P_Bomb]

I still have my PS1, PS2, PS3.

[Orchard]

And all of those consoles will die eventually. Additionally, I can't play my PS2 games on my PS3.

Really, the solution here is for Sony to give us the ability to play our PS1/2/3 disks - and make new digital purchases - on PS5.

PS1, 2 and 3 have been emulated on PC. If a bunch of random engineers on the internet can do it - why can't Sony?

[P_Bomb]

“ And all of those consoles will die eventually. ”

Yeah? So will I! I’ve got bigger things to worry about when I’m dead.

[Thundercat77]

Fighting over a 4 generations old game? What the heck? This is just a desperate and ridiculous attempt to just take jabs at Sony.

[Orchard]

PS website taking unjust jabs at Sony? Seems unlikely.

Maybe they're just concerned like a lot of gamers are. We're about to lose a legacy of great games from Sony's back catalog and Sony don't seem to care.

[Knushwood Butt]

You sure seem 'concerned'.

[Orchard]

I am. I like playing old games, RE, SH, Metal Gear series etc. It's a shame that these games are effectively being killed off - unless someone wants to emulate them.

New games are great, but so are old classics.

[Tedakin]

I have an original physical copy of it that's about to skyrocket in value. Thanks Sony!

[ScootaKuH]

Why? Don't physical copies exist?

This will always be the argument for physical media. We shouldn't be so quick to jump into an all digital future.

[anast]

Physical media deteriorates also. A digital back up would be prefect to preserve games.

[ScootaKuH]

I still collect snes and mega drive games. Of course deterioration is a factor but this takes many years. I have no issue with a digital backup but I do have an issue with digital replacing physical because of this very reason. If the servers get shut down then they're gone.

[anast]

I agree Scoota. I used to collect films (8mm and 16mm) but it is also nice to have digitized backups. I know the two are not the same (films are way more volatile when it comes to preservation), and I would be quite angry if someone took my films and placed them on a server. I am not calling for a replacement, but for some of those really old games to survive a digital back up is better than losing them entirely, if they are allowed to be downloaded that is.

[SCW1982]

Blue Point Silent Hill 1 Remake incoming

[Exvalos]

The writing is on the wall, if you care about these titles do your research and figure out which games you want and purchase them before it's to late.

[snake-OO]

If you love silent hill, you would have bought it by now. I bought it the first day it became available on PSN. Its been on the PSN store for 12 years.

[Knushwood Butt]

Not in Japan, unfortunately.

I got it on disc.

[P_Bomb]

I’ve got disc and digital. Think it may have been a PS+ title in the early years cuz I don’t remember buying it digitally. But it’s there.

[SinisterKieran]

omg people are still moaning about this, if you wanna play old dated games, buy and xbox.

[cerpintaxt44]

discs still exist

[Knushwood Butt]

I have Silent Hill PS1 on original disc and it works fine on my PS3

In other news, Silent Hill PS1 has never been available digitally on the PS store in Japan. So there is nothing to grab before it is gone because it was never there in the first place.

Surely that is worth having a bigger fake concern article. Sony and Konami in conspiracy to deprive gamers!

[dumahim]

Lost? Are people actually pretending physical copies don't exist now?

[Petebloodyonion]

I don't see the fuss about Silent hill 1 being gone from the Ps3/PSP store.

1) The game is a PS1 game that is found on the PS1 so the physical disc still exist just like all the Ps1 game
2) The game was just a straight port of the Ps1/ games with 0 improvements to the game.

Now I am one that is not happy that the store close because it removes buying option to the consumer or remove games that were made for the system (Fat Princess come to mind) that don't have another option to be played aside from Piracy or a solution like PS now.
But Silent Hill is far from that game.

[HeliosHex]

I honestly don't see a problem with preservation as long as roms are available.
It cost the company money to store these games on servers. It's probably just not worth it to them.

[Melankolis]

If the reason is game preservation, all the PS1 titles are already preserved through emulators, so i take this issue easily.

[stefd75]

They will never be lost, i have all the ps1 to ps 3 , psp ans vita games backed up on a few hard drives. You can emu them on a good pc so it's clear they don't care if we share roms of old games now as their will be no way to access them. Let the sin begin

[Imortus_san]

Piracy will keep alve forever.

[Mr_Luke]

I'd really like a remake (maybe with the classic SH1 unlockable). Old good SH1 with modern graphics and some extras like more details of the story, new NPCs with new stories, new collectibles maybe.

[Master of Unlocking]

Thank Him for emulation then. A good PC, a good controller, a good emulator hub (like Retroarch), or good standalone emulators altogether, maybe even a good software for bezels (like Rocket Launcher) and a good frontend (like Launchbox) on top of it, and you're all set to bridge the numerous shortcomings of those decidedly cheap-@$$ consoles when it comes to retrogaming.

[CrimsonWing69]

I thought it was already gone from the PSN store. I had purchased it before but when I went to download it it didn’t show on the store at all.