Sony has made it nearly impossible to buy PS3 games online
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)
Update: Nintendo plans to shut down the 3DS and Wii U eShops in 2023, leading to another video game preservation calamity
If you’ve already played everything you want to play on the PS3, consider yourself lucky. Sony’s system from two console generations ago still has an excellent game library. But you’d never know it, considering how many hoops you have to jump through before you can access it. After letting my PS3 gather dust for the last few years, I decided it was time to give the console another spin. After an hour of grappling with — and barely defeating — the archaic interface and arcane restrictions, I almost wish I hadn’t.
There are still lots of worthwhile games to buy on PS3. And if you can’t find them in a used games store or on eBay, buying them digitally is still technically an option. But if you go down that path, you should be prepared for a lot of frustration along the way.
A stay of execution
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Longtime Tom’s Guide readers may remember that there was a big to-do about the PS3’s online store last year. Sony threatened to shut the whole thing down, because the company wanted to focus more attention on selling PS4 and PS5 games. After a month of fan backlash, Sony agreed to continue operations for the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita, although the PSP’s online store was (mostly) doomed.
The only issue is that these deprecated console stores required some compromises to keep afloat. Unlike the PS4 and PS5, buying games on the PS3 has a number of inconvenient restrictions:
- You must buy games via the console itself, not a Web browser
- You must preload the funds you need into your account
- You can download a game only from its store listing, not via a Web browser or app
These may not sound like huge inconveniences. In fact, if the PlayStation Store worked perfectly on the PS3, they wouldn’t be.
But each step of the process compounds on itself to create a vortex of unpleasantness, dragging out a five-minute process into an hours-long odyssey.
The setup for my story is simple. I have nothing pressing to play at the moment, and I’ve been slowly but surely working my way through the excellent Yakuza series. While most of these games are available on modern consoles, the questionable spinoff, Yakuza: Dead Souls, is relegated to the PS3. It’s not supposed to be a great game, but I’m invested enough in the franchise to see what it has to offer. As physical copies of the game go for upwards of $80 on eBay, the $20 digital copy looked much more tempting.
Don’t need no credit card
(Image credit: Sega)
In retrospect, I should have foreseen that this would be a difficult process when I booted up my PS3 and found that the PlayStation Store refused to load. This, I discovered, was due to my system’s clock being set to the wrong time, as the PS3 does not automatically adjust for Daylight Savings.
This was also the easiest part of the process to correct, requiring only one trip through an obscure series of menus.
Next, I had to find the game in the PS Store. Unlike the PS4, PS5 and Web stores, the PS3 uses an antiquated system that forces you to select one letter at a time, rather than simply typing out a game’s name on a keyboard. This is about as tedious as it sounds.
After adding the game to my cart, I attempted to check out. When you first log into the PS3’s store, a notice reminds you that credit cards and PayPal don’t work, and that you’ll have to add funds via either smartphone or PC. Since I had advance warning, I couldn’t be too upset about this, but it’s still an extra complication in an already complicated process.
I hopped onto my smartphone and logged into the PlayStation Store. Adding funds is not the most straightforward process to begin with, since the link that the PS3 store gives you doesn’t actually take you to the “add funds” page — it’s just a two-step tutorial on how to do so.
The actual option to add funds is buried in your account profile under Payment Management.
Adding funds is not a straightforward process, either. You can’t simply price out the game you want to buy and type in the exact cost. Instead, you have to add funds in increments of $5, $10, $25, $50 or $60. If your game costs, say, $21, as mine did, you’ll have to live with four useless dollars clogging up your PSN account until you buy even more stuff. It’s an old, cheap trick to lock you into a digital ecosystem.
Even less straightforward were the inexplicable error messages I got when I tried to actually add funds. My credit card had an error; my PayPal had an error. I checked to make sure that Sony servers were running properly, but everything was in order. I decided that, perhaps, my PC would be a better option. But after logging in and attempting to add funds via both credit card and PayPal again, I got the exact same message: “An error has occurred. Please try again.”
At this point, my only recourse was to go online and see if other people had the same problem.
I had two options: I could buy a PSN gift card and hope for the best, or I could attempt to add funds on a PS4 or PS5. Wanting to cut out the middleman, I booted up my PS5 and hopped into the PlayStation Store.
Except, as I discovered, you can’t add funds in the PlayStation Store — you have to dive deep into your account menu from the PS5’s home screen. It’s an unintuitive process from start to finish, but at least it (somewhat inexplicably) worked. At last, I had $25 in my PSN wallet.
(Image credit: Sony)
That was the end of my payment difficulties, but a few more hurdles still stood between Yakuza: Dead Souls and me. After I finally bought the game, I selected the Download option, only to be informed that I didn’t have enough space — 20 GB, to be precise.
This part was, perhaps, understandable. I’ve had the PS3 for more than a decade, and had never really culled my game library. I took a few minutes to uninstall all of my digital games, securing 21 GB of free space overall.
I went back to the PS Store, where I learned that my 21 GB of free space wasn’t enough to install a 20 GB game.
This necessitated another trip to the Internet help forums. It turns out that every PlayStation game requires twice as much space to install (or to update) as it actually needs to run, due to redundancies in the installation process. In actuality, I needed 40 GB of space to install a 20 GB game, on a system with 80 GB of total storage space. The PS3’s online store never explains this part of the process, leaving you to guess how much space you’ll actually need to free up.
At this point, I had to navigate into the PS3’s Game Data Utility menu, which had large installation files from every PS3 game I’d ever played. I had to delete all this data — but it was absolutely vital that I did not touch the Saved Data Utility menu, located directly next to Game Data Utility, as this would have deleted all of my save files instead. Some of the installation data became corrupted while I was attempting to delete it, which necessitated a full console reboot.
At last, more than an hour after I first attempted to buy the game, I could begin the process of downloading Yakuza: Dead Souls onto my PS3. Due to the console’s antiquated Wi-Fi connection, the process would take about four hours. I turned off my system and went to bed.
Game preservation
(Image credit: Sony)
When Sony first announced the PS3 store shutdown, I argued that such practices were counterproductive for game preservation. Without rehashing my whole argument, older games are already difficult to play, and removing them from digital stores makes it that much harder. While it’s admirable that we can still buy and download PS3 games, the process is so convoluted that I can’t imagine many people would want to.
To be fair, Sony has only so many resources, and it makes more sense to funnel those resources toward systems that people are actually using on a day-to-day basis. Even in its current, deprecated form, the PS3 store does take time, effort and money to maintain.
It would require even more time, money and effort to make the experience meaningfully better.
And yet, people are still buying and playing old games, if the outcry against the PS3/Vita/PSP store closures was anything to go by. If manufacturers can’t commit any resources into making this process better, then at the very least, they should try to ensure that it doesn’t get worse.
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Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom’s Guide, overseeing the site’s coverage of gaming hardware and software.
He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.
Topics
Gaming
PS3™ | PlayStation®Store overview
PlayStation™Network > PlayStation®Store overview
To use this feature, you may be required to update the system software. On-screen images and navigation controls differ in certain countries and regions.
PlayStation®Store is an online store inside PSNSM where you can purchase games, game add-ons, and other content. You can also download the latest free trial versions of games and promotional videos.
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Shopping cart
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(2) |
View Downloads
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(3) |
Redeem Codes
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Hints
- PSNSM and PlayStation®Store are available only in certain regions and languages. Also, types of products and services that are provided vary depending on the country or region of residence. For details, contact the technical support line for your region.
- To download content items (as a purchase or for free), you must create a Sony Entertainment Network account and accept the user agreement.
To create your account, go to (Sign Up) under (PlayStation™Network). - Note that you can only access PlayStation®Store for the country or region associated with your account.
- Some content downloaded (purchased or for free) from PlayStation®Store can only be used by activated devices, such as PS3™, PS Vita or PSP™ systems. For details, see (PlayStation™Network) > (Account Management) > [About system activation].
- Some content from View Downloads cannot be re-downloaded.
Purchasing content items
You must add funds to your wallet to purchase products and content. On the purchase confirmation screen, select [Add Funds] and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the operation. A confirmation message is then sent to the e-mail address you chose as your sign-in ID when you created your account.
Hints
- Note that when you select [Buy Now] without enough funds in your wallet to complete the purchase, then if you have credit card information on record for your account, funds will be added automatically.
- For details on a wallet, see (PlayStation™Network) > (PlayStation®Store) > [Using the wallet].
- To change your sign-in ID, go to (PlayStation™Network), and then select (Account Management) > (Account Information) > [Sign-In ID (E-mail Address)].
- To check the record of transactions and funding operations that occurred on your account during a specified period, go to (PlayStation™Network) > (Account Management) > (Transaction Management). For details, see (PlayStation™Network) > (PlayStation®Store) > [Checking PlayStation®Store usage].
PS3™ | PlayStation®Store
Overview
PlayStation™Network > PlayStation®Store
Overview
System software update may be required to use this feature. Depending on the country or region, the screen display and operation commands differ.
PlayStation®Store is the PSN SM online store where you can buy games, game add-ons and more. You can also download free trial versions of the latest games here, as well as view promo videos.
nine0003
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(1) |
Basket |
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View download files |
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Redemption codes |
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Hints
- PSN SM and PlayStation®Store are not available in all regions or languages.
In addition, the types of products and services provided vary by country or region of residence. For more information, please contact the technical support service in your area. nine0061
- To download content (both paid and free), you must create a Sony Entertainment Network account and agree to the terms of the user agreement. To create an account, go to (Sign Up) on (PlayStation™Network).
- The range of products available from the PlayStation®Store varies by country or region. Please note that the available version of PlayStation®Store depends on the country/region you have on your account. nine0061
- Some content (free or paid) downloaded from the PlayStation®Store can only be used on activated devices such as PS3™, PS Vita or PSP™ systems. For details, see: (PlayStation™Network) > (Account Management) > [System Activation].
- Some content in the Download Viewer list is not available for re-download.
Purchase of available materials
To purchase available materials, you need to replenish your wallet.
On the purchase information confirmation window, select [Deposit Funds] and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the transaction. Upon completion of the wallet replenishment procedure, you will receive a confirmation message that will be sent to the email address selected as the login ID when creating the account. nine0003
Tips
- Please note that when you select [Buy Now] if there is not enough money to complete the purchase, the wallet will be replenished automatically if you have credit card information in your account.
- For wallet details, see: (PlayStation™Network) > (PlayStation®Store) > [Wallet Usage].
- To change the sign-in ID, select (PlayStation™Network), then (Account Management) > (Account Information) > [Network Sign-in ID (email address)]. nine0061
- To view the history of transactions and transactions made on your account during a specified period, go to (PlayStation™Network) > (Account Management) > (Transaction Management).
For details, see: (PlayStation™Network) > (PlayStation®Store) > [Checking PlayStation®Store Usage].
PS3™ | Registration
PlayStation™Network > Registration
This feature may require a system software update. nine0003
PSN SM is an online service that allows you to shop online at (PlayStation®Store), chat via the menu (Friends) and use many other online services from PSN SM . A Sony Entertainment Network account is required to use PSN SM . Select (Sign Up) from the (PlayStation™Network) menu and follow the on-screen instructions to create an account.
Basic items required to create an account
| Personal details | Enter information about the registered user: day, month and year of birth, user name and address. |
|---|---|
| Main Account/Sub Account | There are two types of accounts: primary and secondary accounts. Master account holders may determine certain terms and conditions for the use of associated sub accounts.
Main account: Additional account: Age limits for primary and secondary accounts vary by country or region. See the SIE website for your region for details. |
| Login ID (email address) | Register an ID to use when signing in to PSN SM . Use a valid email address where you can receive confirmation emails, for example when shopping in a store (PlayStation®Store). nine0023 |
| Password |
Create a password considering the following conditions:
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| Network ID |
Register a name to be publicly displayed on the PSN network SM . Once an online ID has been created, it cannot be changed. Online ID Requirements:
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Tips
- To create an additional account, visit the following website:
https://www.
playstation.com/acct/family - Depending on the child’s age, a computer is required to create an additional account. During the account creation process, an email will be sent to the email address associated with the primary account holder’s login ID. Follow the instructions in the email to complete the PC registration. nine0061
- In order to log in to PSN SM using an additional account you have created, you must link the account to the username that will log into the PS3™ system. See [Using an existing account] in the (PlayStation™Network) section of this manual for details.
- The login ID (e-mail address) and password will be displayed publicly. Do not share this information with others.
- Only one account can be created per PS3™ system user. To create an account, go to the (Users) category and create additional users. nine0061
- For details on the processing of personal information relating to the user, please refer to the SIE website of the respective region.
