Based on reporting by thegamer it’s looking likely that Sony will soon shut down the storefronts for their older systems like PS3, PSP and the Vita. I don’t think that comes as any surprise at all that we’d eventually end up here as I can only imagine supporting these older storefronts for very little gain. The concern of course that comes up is what happens with digital games in a move like this. Per the report (and we still need to wait for an official word from Sony) you can keep using your purchases as long as they are done before the store shutdown. However questions remain on if you can keep downloading things after the fact if you have previously purchases a game.

It really does highlight the more we get into a digital distribution system where consoles are starting to ship even without any disc drives you are basically just renting or leasing your games (or rather the license to use it) from the publisher. I prefer physical media where possible but sure enough I have plenty of digital games that eventually will likely expire. The future retro use of these sort of games and consoles come into question. At least officially because jailbreaks and hacks are often available after a system has left the spotlight. Personally my PSP is already soft modded and at this point it looks like the PS3 and Vita might follow in short order.