Support NeoGAF

[Pankratous]

They are yanking the games away too even if you've bought them?!
What the fuck Sony?!

Not really sure what people are getting up in arms about here. They are only 'yanking away' your ability to download the games. You are perfectly entitled to keep the copy you have downloaded.

Do you think if Apple went out of business (obviously unlikely) they would keep iTunes up? Allow you to continuously download forever? No, they'd tell you to get all your shit off it before a certain date.

Same can be said for any digital / cloud service. Google Play out of business? Better download your stuff. Xbox out of business? Better download your stuff.

 

[PixyJunket]

Not really sure what people are getting up in arms about here.

They are only 'yanking away' your ability to download the games.

Hmm.

 

[Pankratous]

Hmm.

Ignore the rest of my post which details the reality of digital service. Hmm.

 

[billsmugs]

Not really sure what people are getting up in arms about here. They are only 'yanking away' your ability to download the games. You are perfectly entitled to keep the copy you have downloaded.

Do you think if Apple went out of business (obviously unlikely) they would keep iTunes up? Allow you to continuously download forever? No, they'd tell you to get all your shit off it before a certain date.

Same can be said for any digital / cloud service. Google Play out of business? Better download your stuff. Xbox out of business? Better download your stuff.

Unless I've missed some pretty big news, Sony aren't going out of business. Up until now games that get removed from the PS Store have still been available for download. I don't think it's that unreasonable to expect to be able to keep access to PSM games as well, after they are removed. I understand why it's the case (PSM games were never properly tied into the Vita store), but I don't think it's really acceptable.

 

[Pankratous]

Unless I've missed some pretty big news, Sony aren't going out of business. Up until now games that get removed from the PS Store have still been available for download. I don't think it's that unreasonable to expect to be able to keep access to PSM games as well, after they are removed. I understand why it's the case (PSM games were never properly tied into the Vita store), but I don't think it's really acceptable.

I know Sony aren't going out of business. This particular service clearly is. Those games on PSN are different - the games are no longer available but the service still exists.

 

[SigSig]

If you have not played Cytus or Rymdkapsel on Vita, you are missing out on two of the finest games for the system.
Won't ever delete them.

Can't the existing games just be migrated to PSN?

 

[PixyJunket]

Ignore the rest of my post which details the reality of digital service. Hmm.

I must have missed the part where Sony went out of business.

 

[Hero Prinny]

lmfao damn son. now all they just need to stop making vitas and shut down psn for vita and sony finally has their dream.

 

[billsmugs]

I know Sony aren't going out of business. This particular service clearly is. Those games on PSN are different - the games are no longer available but the service still exists.

The examples you gave to justify this all centred around companies disappearing entirely though, which is a very different scenario. In the eyes of most customers (i.e. those who aren't PSM devs) a "service" isn't going away, Sony are just removing a tab from the (still functioning) PSN store and removing a bunch of games that customers bought using their PSN account, with money in their PSN wallet.

Surely you see why people might be annoyed by this?

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

PS Vita is really dead. Sony should officially announce its demise and move on without acting. Next time, when they will release sth, they need to study it wisely to get all support for it rather than abandoning it in midway !

 

[Ludist210]

I believe they shifted to Unity, so all is not lost.

Really? Nice...maybe we'll see it for other consoles in the future then. At the very least it's not graphic intensive, so maybe my old rig will run it.

 

[dancrane212]

Update 2:

A member of the PlayStation support team posted the info in english on the community board.

I don't like this at all.

*3 If users deactivate their devices after September 10, 2015, they will not be able to play their purchased PSM content. Device activation performed before April 10, 2015 or after September 10, 2015 will also be invalid.

So if something happens that causes me to replace my Vita after Sept.10th and I transfer over the backed up versions of the game from my PC I will not be able to play them? It's not very clear if the PSM games just require the device to be activated or if the content cannot be activated after the cut-off fate.

 

[Flandy]

I made a post on the PSM dev forums

http://community.eu.playstation.com...End-of-an-era-and-a-way-forward/td-p/23079251

Oh god, you work with Dave Lang? D:

 

[animax]

another great day for vita owners!

 

[Funyarinpa]

PS Vita is really dead. Sony should officially announce its demise and move on without acting. Next time, when they will release sth, they need to study it wisely to get all support for it rather than abandoning it in midway !

Midway? Ah, please, it was abandoned three steps out the door.

 

[FriedConsole]

Here are the details about keeping your Mobile games:

http://community.us.playstation.com...pdate-on-PlayStation-Mobile-PSM/td-p/45023971

Here is a list of some of my favorites:

Life of Pixel
Rebel
Passing Time
Sixty Second Shooter Deluxe
Hermit Crab in Space
Switch Galaxy <- Don't get the native Vita version
Haunt the House: Terrortown
Cubixx
Tokyo Jungle Mobile
Super Crate Box
rymdkapsel

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

Midway? Ah, please, it was abandoned three steps out the door.

Indeed !

 

[Mihos]

It always seemed like an odd side store to me. I never bought anything from there, but did look through it once. I hate when OEMs try to slip their own market places in there

Spoiler

LOOKING AT YOU SAMSUNG

 

[TheSeks]

Nothing of value lost, IMO.

But still really shitty of Sony to go "if your patch fails after our discontinue day, you can't resubmit!" Uh... so then why should I develop for your platform if you won't let me support your fucking platform past that date?

Please ensure that you have downloaded all of the games that you want to keep. After September 10, 2015, you will not be able to re-download your purchased content.

For PS Vita users: You will need to complete the device activation process by performing the steps below between March 10, 2015, and September 10, 2015:

For PlayStation®Certified device users: You will need to open up the PSM app and launch any purchased PSM content between April 10, 2015 and September 10, 2015*3 to complete the content authentication process.

HAHAHAHAHA. This is even worse. Why should consumers give Sony money if they can't let you actually download stuff from a shutdown service or give you the ability to archive and use it?

System breaks? You get a new one? Fuck you, you can't use the stuff you paid for.

 

[Steel]

They may as well shut down PSM altogether, nothing of value would be lost.

 

[TheSeks]

Not really sure what people are getting up in arms about here. They are only 'yanking away' your ability to download the games. You are perfectly entitled to keep the copy you have downloaded.

Do you think if Apple went out of business (obviously unlikely) they would keep iTunes up? Allow you to continuously download forever? No, they'd tell you to get all your shit off it before a certain date.

Same can be said for any digital / cloud service. Google Play out of business? Better download your stuff. Xbox out of business? Better download your stuff.

You'd have a point if Playstation Network and the entirety of Sony was going down. They aren't. There is no reason they can't allow you to continue to use your stuff you bought on a side-service by migrating that data (while shutting off the ability to BUY it) to the Playstation Network download list.

If Sony and PSN was going under, then yes: "back up all your shit and get it before this date" would work. But they aren't, they're shutting a side-service down and it makes no damn sense they can't "support" it with a side-migrate while washing their hands of "support" for the help side of it.

 

[Moobabe]

They may as well shut down PSM altogether, nothing of value would be lost.

Aside from a bunch of decent games on there. But sure, try to sound edgy!

 

[LX_Theo]

I'm not sure even Vita users wanted this service.

No damage to anything.

 

[pixelation]

I still think they shoulda made the games available en PS3/4, would've been awesome to play a few of them on the big screen.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Oh shit, I better back up Cytus Lambda.

Thanks Sony for always looking out for your most loyal customers...

 

[see5harp]

Not really sure what people are getting up in arms about here. They are only 'yanking away' your ability to download the games. You are perfectly entitled to keep the copy you have downloaded.

Do you think if Apple went out of business (obviously unlikely) they would keep iTunes up? Allow you to continuously download forever? No, they'd tell you to get all your shit off it before a certain date.

Same can be said for any digital / cloud service. Google Play out of business? Better download your stuff. Xbox out of business? Better download your stuff.

Yea, because Sony is going out of business.

 

[Iriscomeback]

Won't be long now untill they shut down support for the Vita completely I fear :-(

 

[golduck342]

shitty news to wake up to...just when I was starting to get serious with my PSM game
Well the silence on the official PSM forum about the Unity 5 integration should have been warning signal enough

I was on the way there too. Hoping to get a working basic game uploaded and at least say I did something.


Edit: Some of my faves that aren't the most popular
Bullion Blitz
Picbox
Rebel
Beats Trellis
Hermit Crab in Space

 

[Takao]

Adventure Bar Story is supposed to be a pretty neat JRPG and shop sim.

Of course, it also available on most phones and has a premium (non-IAP) version on 3DS.

Adventure Bar Labyrinth is on PSM. It's a spinoff to Adventure Bar Story that AFAIK is only on PSM and pre-smartphones.

When came the last PS Mobile game?

Yesterday. 10 new PSM games came out.

 

[mollipen]

I would recommend Chiebura to anyone looking for interesting games to pick up before PSM dies. It started live as an Xbox Indie, and it's a fun little Japanese shooter when you're a girl falling down a hot spring well who has to grapple onto pegs with a bionic rabbit arm while battling a variety of strange enemies. And your grandfather is floating in the water at the bottom, and if you fall you can try to bounce off his head in order to stay alive.

There was a lot of quirky little stuff to come from the Japanese side, which is what I'm going to miss the most.

 

[Agent X]

To preserve your PSM game in your Vita, you have to activate it between April 10 and September 10.

And to download the game before July 15 of course, since the PSM Store will close that day.

After September 10, no PSM game can be downloaded again if it's not already on your Vita.

The inability to download previously purchased PS Mobile games after September 10 is terrible. It's sad to see them permanently remove a whole section of their downloadable games library in one swift move.

For what it's worth, they did the same thing with PlayStation Comics on PSP a few years ago. They discontinued the service, and then annihilated that entire portion of the PS Store soon afterward.

If PS Mobile will soon cease to exist, then perhaps Sony could at least offer some path to developers to migrate their existing PS Mobile games to full PS Vita releases on the PS Store. If this can be done, then perhaps the users could also have their licenses migrated in a similar manner.

 

[Gamezone]

Is it stupid of me to buy a Vita at this point?

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

I didn't really follow that program, are there any "success stories" of apps developped for it ?

Are there any "success stories" connected with Vita?

Made me think if the longevity of digital downloads from Sony. PS4 is a great success, but Sony as whole is dying. Will they shut down other servers as well when it all goes down the river?

 

[Pankratous]

Is it stupid of me to buy a Vita at this point?

No.

 

[autoduelist]

PS Vita is really dead. Sony should officially announce its demise and move on without acting. Next time, when they will release sth, they need to study it wisely to get all support for it rather than abandoning it in midway !

The reason they are getting rid of PSM is that almost nobody buys from it.

This truly affects only a very small percentage of Vita owners. I've had a vita for years and own... maybe 7 psm games, the majority of which i got for free.

This is more fear mongering. Getting rid of PSM sucks, sure, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the lifespan of the Vita. PSM was a failed attempt at the mobile market, and the fact that vita supported it at all was more of a 'nice to have' than anything else for the rare good game that came to it.

Is it stupid of me to buy a Vita at this point?

No. Vita's existing library will keep you busy for ages, remote play is awesome, and there's a lot of new games coming as long as you don't need AAA monikers. In all likelihood, you would never have bought a game off of PSM in the first place. there is a decent chance that after a year of ownership, you wouldn't even have known what PSM was.

I didn't really follow that program, are there any "success stories" of apps developped for it ?

Yes, sort of? Some of the best games on PSM got greenlighted for native vita versions. There's a handful of them. Same as the psp mini program, really, which also had some hits. But in general, no?

When games came out on PSM that people actually wanted (like Tokyo Jungle adaptation) people just wished it was Vita native. We're losing something here, sure, but it's nothing near the magnitude some are making it out to be.

 

[ATXAlchemy]

Is it stupid of me to buy a Vita at this point?

You... bought a Vita for PlayStation Mobile...?

We're losing something here, sure, but it's nothing near the magnitude some are making it out to be.

Honestly, if they are spending dev time to maintain this, I'm actually happy they're shutting this thing down. Those resource should be spent elsewhere.

Preventing download of what you already purchased, on the other hand, is not good.

Edit: I think the "biggest" game in PSM would be Square Enix's Chaos Rings.

Can't remember if Chaos Rings 2 is also PSM.

 

[ArtHands]

It's a way to play Super Crate Box on your Vita.

Thankfully its up (and will still be up in the future) on the ios apps store.

 

[Camjo-Z]

Everybody better get Tokyo Jungle Mobile before September!

 

[Fasty]

Not really sure what people are getting up in arms about here. They are only 'yanking away' your ability to download the games. You are perfectly entitled to keep the copy you have downloaded.

Do you think if Apple went out of business (obviously unlikely) they would keep iTunes up? Allow you to continuously download forever? No, they'd tell you to get all your shit off it before a certain date.

Same can be said for any digital / cloud service. Google Play out of business? Better download your stuff. Xbox out of business? Better download your stuff.

You do realise we have limited storage space, especially on Vita, right? Not to mention not being able to play the downloaded games on a different Vita after the service goes down if our current Vita breaks.

In my opinion, it's unethical business practice. They should set up some method whereby we can reasonably play our purchased content after the service shuts down. One way could be for them to let us download the game files to our PCs where we can then make backup copies on larger capacity storage devices from which we can use another piece of software to interface with our Vitas and install them that way whenever we like, to any Vita hardware we own. Yes, this could create a lot of security issues for them, but that's their issue to sort out.

 

[FriedConsole]

Adventure Bar Labyrinth is on PSM. It's a spinoff to Adventure Bar Story that AFAIK is only on PSM and pre-smartphones.

Here is a video of Adventure Bar Labyrinth which is free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG9T6aMhc54

 

[2blackcats]

Switch Galaxy <- Don't get the native Vita version

This. So much this. Although I did laugh a lot at how incredibly inept the native version is.

 

[toythatkills]

You know last year sometime when Sony were giving out free PSM games? Passing Time was one of them, and rymdkapsel, amongst others.

How do I redownload these? They're not in my download list, and when I went to try and get Passing Time from the store page it wants to charge me $2.49 for it.

Have I lost these games already?

 

[autoduelist]

You know last year sometime when Sony were giving out free PSM games? Passing Time was one of them, and rymdkapsel, amongst others.

How do I redownload these? They're not in my download list, and when I went to try and get Passing Time from the store page it wants to charge me $2.49 for it.

Have I lost these games already?

Are you sure? All the games i got for free still have 'download' instead of 'buy now' on the button next to the price. just double checked.

 

[Massa]

They really need to get rymdkapsel on PSN, PS4 + Vita would be great. That's a really fine game.

 

[toythatkills]

Are you sure? All the games i got for free still have 'download' instead of 'buy now' on the button next to the price. just double checked.

Haha, yeah you're right, I'm being an idiot.

I assumed that the "download" button being next to the price meant I would be paying for it, but I see now that the other stuff has "buy now" buttons.

Panic over.

 

[stryke]

I'm surprised they kept it going this long. Seemed kinda DOA.

 

[toythatkills]

I'm surprised they kept it going this long. Seemed kinda DOA.

It kind of amuses me that they basically just had an "Xbox LIVE Indie Games" programme, and went on to make literally all the same mistakes that Microsoft did.

 

[stryke]

It kind of amuses me that they basically just had an "Xbox LIVE Indie Games" programme, and went on to make literally all the same mistakes that Microsoft did.

Could you highlight what the same mistakes are? I just thought it failed because there wasn't much point in publishing on PSM versus the normal Google Play Store and Vita install base doing shit all to push the titles out there.

 

[toythatkills]

Could you highlight what the same mistakes are? I just thought it failed because there wasn't much point in publishing on PSM versus the normal Google Play Store and Vita install base doing shit all to push the titles out there.

Things like separating PSM from the normal games marketplace so these games were all hidden away, not allowing devs access to various system functions, stuff like that.

 

[Takao]

You know last year sometime when Sony were giving out free PSM games? Passing Time was one of them, and rymdkapsel, amongst others.

How do I redownload these? They're not in my download list, and when I went to try and get Passing Time from the store page it wants to charge me $2.49 for it.

Have I lost these games already?

PSM games are only viewable on a download list on Vita (and presumably Android). They have their own PlayStation Mobile section, so they should be easy to find. I just checked my own, Passing Time and Rymdkapsel showed up.

Incidentally, that separation from the rest of the store is likely why these games are being removed.