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The New PlayStation Web Store is an Absolute Mess

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I still see the old store (USA, East Coast)
It's possible that they're rolling this out slowly to various data centers. It's also still the old store on mobile, for now desktop is the only place it's updated for me.
 

sandkiller

Member
The new PlayStation web store is an absolute mess. We knew about a few downgrades before it rolled out, but it turns out there were a lot of features from the old site that got scrapped in the new design. Here are a few of the downgrades I've found so far:
  • Wishlist functionality is completely gone (we knew about this in advance, at least)
  • The store no longer has PSP, Vita, or PS3 games (we also knew this)
  • Filtering and sorting options are all completely gone
  • DLC is no longer browsable on a per game basis
  • Search box no longer has any form of autocomplete
  • Item names aren't visible while browsing
Want to sort a list of games you're browsing by the least expensive first? Sorry. Want to see a list of all the DLC available for Tekken 7? Nope. Let's take a deep dive on a few of these issues and post a bunch of photos.

Filtering and sorting options are all completely gone

You used to be able to sort lists and filter them based on your preferences. While this did add a bit of clutter to the interface, it was very handy for filtering out stuff you weren't interested in or sorting lists to your liking.

ptcTsUd.png


With the new store, these options are no longer available.

nxHlTyK.png


You get the list they give you, in the order they give you and there is no way to sort or filter it any more.

DLC is no longer browsable on a per game basis

Old store:
GG1KTFC.png


New store:
ZezILxc.png


With the old store page, I could see that characters were $5.99 each and if I wanted to browse them all there is a convenient button right there to do it. With the new store I get two options: the game, or the ultimate edition. If I want to just buy the Leroy Smith character, I need to do a search (remember, no autocomplete) to find him. This isn't just an issue with Tekken 7, all games are like this now.

Item names aren't visible while browsing

This gets to be an issue especially with things that aren't labeled well in their thumbnails. While I imagine it's easy for Sony to point fingers and say it's the publisher's job to make better thumbnails. This might not be as big of any issue going forward (since publishers will obviously have to overcome Sony's shortcomings here) it's a pretty big issue right now.

For example, let's say I do a search for "Rock Band":
Z1ACe8s.png

A few of these items, I can identify based on their thumbnail image, but a lot of them can't be. You would think that instinctually I would at least get a hover tooltip with the item's name, but that's not the case. If I want to see what the second and third items are in the top row that look identical to each other are, I need to click on each of them and load the store page for those items. Turns out, they're "20 free track pack (Unavailable)" and "Rock Band 2 Export (Unavailable)". Yikes.

I hear you saying "well, maybe it's just Rock Band" that's got issues. Let's get a bit more generic.

sYvqATF.png


So there are several problems here, all of which could probably be solved by putting the name of these things below the icon. Like - what is the difference between the first and last items on the top row? One is on sale for $9.59, but the other is free. There are two icons for Dragon Ball Z Kakarot but only one of them has a price tag. There are a total of three icons for Dragon Age Inquisition, but at least they have different banners at the top? It looks like there are two versions of Dragon Quest XI available - why is one $20 cheaper?

Conclusion

Sony essentially discontinued a huge number of older games from their web store, but also felt the need to discontinue a lot of functionality too. There are a few features of the new store I really like, such as curated collections, but overall I feel like the new store is a massive step backwards. What do you think GAF?

Ok boomer.

Millenials don't sort.

/s
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
The new PlayStation web store is an absolute mess. We knew about a few downgrades before it rolled out, but it turns out there were a lot of features from the old site that got scrapped in the new design. Here are a few of the downgrades I've found so far:
  • Wishlist functionality is completely gone (we knew about this in advance, at least)
  • The store no longer has PSP, Vita, or PS3 games (we also knew this)
  • Filtering and sorting options are all completely gone
  • DLC is no longer browsable on a per game basis
  • Search box no longer has any form of autocomplete
  • Item names aren't visible while browsing
Want to sort a list of games you're browsing by the least expensive first? Sorry. Want to see a list of all the DLC available for Tekken 7? Nope. Let's take a deep dive on a few of these issues and post a bunch of photos.

Filtering and sorting options are all completely gone

You used to be able to sort lists and filter them based on your preferences. While this did add a bit of clutter to the interface, it was very handy for filtering out stuff you weren't interested in or sorting lists to your liking.

ptcTsUd.png


With the new store, these options are no longer available.

nxHlTyK.png


You get the list they give you, in the order they give you and there is no way to sort or filter it any more.

DLC is no longer browsable on a per game basis

Old store:
GG1KTFC.png


New store:
ZezILxc.png


With the old store page, I could see that characters were $5.99 each and if I wanted to browse them all there is a convenient button right there to do it. With the new store I get two options: the game, or the ultimate edition. If I want to just buy the Leroy Smith character, I need to do a search (remember, no autocomplete) to find him. This isn't just an issue with Tekken 7, all games are like this now.

Item names aren't visible while browsing

This gets to be an issue especially with things that aren't labeled well in their thumbnails. While I imagine it's easy for Sony to point fingers and say it's the publisher's job to make better thumbnails. This might not be as big of any issue going forward (since publishers will obviously have to overcome Sony's shortcomings here) it's a pretty big issue right now.

For example, let's say I do a search for "Rock Band":
Z1ACe8s.png

A few of these items, I can identify based on their thumbnail image, but a lot of them can't be. You would think that instinctually I would at least get a hover tooltip with the item's name, but that's not the case. If I want to see what the second and third items are in the top row that look identical to each other are, I need to click on each of them and load the store page for those items. Turns out, they're "20 free track pack (Unavailable)" and "Rock Band 2 Export (Unavailable)". Yikes.

I hear you saying "well, maybe it's just Rock Band" that's got issues. Let's get a bit more generic.

sYvqATF.png


So there are several problems here, all of which could probably be solved by putting the name of these things below the icon. Like - what is the difference between the first and last items on the top row? One is on sale for $9.59, but the other is free. There are two icons for Dragon Ball Z Kakarot but only one of them has a price tag. There are a total of three icons for Dragon Age Inquisition, but at least they have different banners at the top? It looks like there are two versions of Dragon Quest XI available - why is one $20 cheaper?

Conclusion

Sony essentially discontinued a huge number of older games from their web store, but also felt the need to discontinue a lot of functionality too. There are a few features of the new store I really like, such as curated collections, but overall I feel like the new store is a massive step backwards. What do you think GAF?
Those nameless black Rock Band squares are the best. One of them even says purchased.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Those nameless black Rock Band squares are the best. One of them even says purchased.
I have like 400 Rock Band 4 DLC songs on PSN. It used to be... cumbersome... to manage it all in the store. Now it's straight up impossible.

(The purchased black square is the Classic Rock export pack, which I had to click on to find out)
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Eh? Are you saying people that played RB4 are fucked cause all the older dlc is gone? Eh should have stuck with 3.
They went full Microsoft. You never go full Microsoft.
What? I can still buy 360 games on my 360.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I'm still seeing the old store. Did Sony say when the new store will be rolled out to everyone?
2mnJc3f.png


I guess this is all going down between now and next Monday, with the mobile site being updated next Wednesday. Guess I get to be one of the lucky ones that gets it Day One©
 

Evangelion Unit-01

Master Chief
Sony essentially discontinued a huge number of older games from their web store, but also felt the need to discontinue a lot of functionality too. There are a few features of the new store I really like, such as curated collections, but overall I feel like the new store is a massive step backwards. What do you think GAF?
Good write up. I agree.

I think this is a situation akin to the Xbox 360->Xbox One migration. New store backend.

The legacy stores still work as is on PS3/Vita/PS4 but maintaining two webstores is more work than it's worth. Seems like they built an integration into the old store for PS4 titles similar to what MSFT did for 360 titles but left everything else where it was today. It'll probably be a while before the new store is as fully featured as the previous store.
 
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ShadowLag

Member
Seems evident to me there's some backend change they want to make to prepare for PS5 launch that meant changes to their store backend.

They at some point decided to replace the store rather than modify the last one.

Many of the missing features may have been planned to be there, but aren't ready in time for PS5 launch, so that's why they "removed features"; it's not really "removed" it's that they didn't have time to develop it before the web site has to launch (because the web site HAS to be there before PS5 for some reason.)

That's my theory at least.

Source: my ass, which has been working on software projects at various companies for over 20 years and seen this kinda shit lol

It's probably this. I'm in the process of developing a web service myself, and it's going to be ready for private testing soon. The website portion, which includes account logins and such, will be missing many advanced features that I've planned for since the beginning until I'm done working on them. Because of deadlines, the basics/most important things go out first, while the bells and whistles go out later as they become ready. In my case, I'm setting my own deadlines... but you can easily imagine a bunch of last-minute decisions being made and super early deadlines that suddenly need to be hit over at Sony land with a chaotic console launch in the middle of a pandemic.

TLDR those features will probably show up eventually!
 
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Tschumi

Member
Looks awful! I already didn't like that you couldn't order by downloads or anything in the old site.. puke! Hope they add some stuff in after backlash.. come on Sony, thought you learned the lessons of Vita~
 
so so so so so so so bad. i dont get how these mega companies can have such shitty UI/UX designers.

thankfully i dont buy digitally on home consoles.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Eh? Are you saying people that played RB4 are fucked cause all the older dlc is gone? Eh should have stuck with 3.
Nope, the DLC is still there but it's almost impossible to find now. For example, if I'm looking for the Green Day track pack I can search for "Green Day" and it'll spit back a bunch of album covers but no way to know which is which (outside of one maybe being a higher price, but you can't sort by price to easily find it!). To find what you're looking for you would have to know the exact name of the DLC you're looking for, like the name of a particular song, or you have to click through over one hundred results to find it. If you're just casually browsing for a new Green Day song to add to your library, fuckin' forget about it.
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Nope, the DLC is still there but it's almost impossible to find now. For example, if I'm looking for the Green Day track pack I can search for "Green Day" and it'll spit back a bunch of album covers but no way to know which is which (outside of one maybe being a higher price, but you can't sort by price to easily find it!). To find what you're looking for you would have to know the exact name of the DLC you're looking for, like the name of a particular song, or you have to click through over one hundred results to find it. If you're just casually browsing for a new Green Day song to add to your library, fuckin' forget about it.
Can you still go thru your download/purchase history?
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Can you still go thru your download/purchase history?
Everything just links back to what's on


DLC doesn't show up here.

I can also still see my transaction history under account management, but that just has the name / dollar amount of the purchases and no way to link back to the store from there.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
I only buy in the app since the store is shit on the console. Removing things like filters, search functionality, and wish list is so stupid that it has to be coming back at some point.
 

Soodanim

Member
These companies have to stop removing functionality with new versions. I see it all the time and it's infuriating.
I’ve never understood it. Whoever makes these decisions has no clue. Who do they think is using this browser interfaces if not people that want to refine their search? Between that and the minimalistic (in a bad way) design, the whole thing ahold have been scrapped before it went live.
 

TonyK

Member
When designers that will not use the web make the design. I can imagine the designer only worried to make it look "clean", not useful.
 

GymWolf

Member
I only use that instead of the one inside the console when i have to buy stuff so hearing this is pretty bad.
 
Last edited:

Thesnipergecko

Neo Member
There's certainly some interesting design choices they have made. I'm still waiting for it to switch over to the new site. Accessibility wise from the screen grabs it looks like a total fail.

I've been a web developer for over 20 years and even I'm questioning the decision to not include game titles under the thumbs. As I said, accessibility wise for screen readers this baffles me. I sure hope they have aria labels and alt text etc.

I'm looking forward to looking at the source code, from a professional point of view.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Just changed here. It's slow af refreshing the titles until it's cached. I also have no idea why they removed auto complete. Doesn't really bother me but I hope the mobile store is still as good as current, if it's just a responsive version of this I will not be happy
 

Max_Po

Banned
I never bought anything on the web store, except may be redeemed a 12 month PSN plus code.

Stores via consoles are good enough for me.
 
Looks like they are going the way of social media apps. Sony's algorithm will now dictate what they think you want to buy now.

It’s the direction EVERYTHING is going, and it’s horse shit. Hopefully this is not Sony’s long term plan and they add those features to the storefront soon.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
As I said, accessibility wise for screen readers this baffles me. I sure hope they have aria labels and alt text etc.
This was my first thought as well, this will be entirely worthless to people who rely on screen readers.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
No, seriously. Don’t toy with me. It’s my go bookmark for future purchases
Not playing with you my guy, this feature went straight out the airlock. Your wishlisted items are hanging out in the void of space with no chance of rescue.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.

Saber

Gold Member
Not only its terrible visually, but I feel like they did this on purpose. By taking away wishlist and search functions, they want people to waste time browsing(window shopping) for their games instead of finding if their game are on discount or not. And whats up with this bland all white shit? Where does these guys get feedback? I hate it.
 
Last edited:

aclar00

Member
Doesn’t this tend to happen with new rollouts? I'd figured all these additional features the OP mentioned will be implemented as time goes on, and most likely by the end of the year. I think the store release schedule just doesnt match the console release schedule unfortunately.
 

jonnyp

Member
I'm sure they will improve the experience but how fucking hard can it possibly be to keep basic filters and wish list etc as is? Whoever OK'd this should be fired.
 
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