I know this isn't the ideal place to ask, but other forums haven't been much helpful. It seems that PS3, PSP, and PS Vita are starting to lose support and will probably be completely dropped in a year or so? I mean, you can't access their content on the PS Store website anymore. Is there a way or a place to go where they are preserving digital content of these systems? I have a ton of stuff I'd like to contribute, but don't know how. It'd be a shame for it to be lost forever.

I don't think so. The digital content is typically licensed and not owned by the user. If Sony removes it from its store, it is likely that you cannot get it back again. I know many consoles also encrypt the files on the local drive, so if you tried to move it to a new console it probably wouldn't be accessible.

They may not be selling the older ones, but aren't the Sony consoles backwards compatible? Pretty sure PS4 is with PS3 at least. So in that case maybe the secondhand market has a good life.

Other than that, ports for PC, if not already been available on PC, seem to always be a chance in the future.

Backwards compatibility is lady Microsoft's advantage, each Xbox generation is backwards compatible with previous ones. On the Sony side, I only remember the PS2 playing PS1 games. The PS4 definitely does not play PS3 games.

PS3 games seem to have few chances on preservation due to the console's architecture. That changed with PS4, which has a x86-64 based CPU, so it should be much easier to either preserve (and emulate) games written for this console.

To answer the above there is a reasonable ps3 emulator around, obviously can’t mention names here. I have tried it and GOW seems to work well on it (and yes, I own two ps3’s and hard copies of all GOW games!).

In terms of “preservation”, there is no such thing in the digital world. Everything is under copyright law which means ownership of a product is forever and can be brought and sold. Hence can never be considered for preservation other than by the rights holder.

If you want to keep playing something into the future, then your best bet is to get a copy you can play without requirements, eg drm, store integration, console lock like PS4, online requirements etc. All the ps3 games I want to keep are on physical. With PS4 I have a few from the store which are tied to the console, but I would t be getting anything not ps exclusive, better to buy pc version and get a crack.

Oh and backwards compatability is not high on anyone’s to do list, far simpler to keep reselling each new console.

You sure like some Sony :) Correct, exclusives are now the only reason for getting a console. Although I would criticize Microsoft for other things, they have handled Xbox migration admirably well. You can get your games now and be pretty sure they will be playable after 2 generations.

I got a PS4 and have gathered many games in physical disc, but after it kicks the bucket I can only hope for a good PS4 emulator on the PC.

TBH yes, I do like the PlayStation consoles. Killed two ps1 consoles by overplaying. Ps2 never really played much of. Ps3 was a must have for GOW, red dead etc. And I got a PS4 against my better judgement for RDR2 which I have never liked. However the GOW game was great, and I enjoyed all the uncharted. So yes, I just keep them for those exclusives (at least until the ps3 emulator is fully go).

Xbox, I had the original, and I had a 360. Never liked them. The original was ok, but I always preferred ps, can’t give reasons why just all seemed to work better for me. Not a huge fan of M$ even though I am hard embedded in windows infrastructure. Backwards compatability is very hit and miss with them, maybe the consoles are ok, but they are forever turning off or stopping some compatability or another. But yes, other than exclusives I would always get for pc, for things like widescreen, higher resolutions, mixed hardwares, virtualisation and emulation.

If Sony disables PS store completely for PS3/Vita, then any games that haven't been ported to other platforms (like Metal Gear Solid 4) will only be accessible via discs. If those games didn't receive a physical release, then tough luck. You'll have to go underground. Sail across the High Seas. Make a landing in the Bay. Trade your Goodz. You get my drift.

Copyright isn't forever and there are fair use exceptions so they could copy all their disc games and put them in a time capsule.

PS3 games also had patches and updates over the internet so unless someone is preserving them then they are at a higher risk of being lost.

Playstation emulation on PC seems like an interesting source of DRM-free games. Are PS3/PS4 games DRM-free? As in, the game files are contained on the physical disk and don't require server authentication?

https://www.gameinformer.com/2020/10/16/playstation-store-will-no-longer-offer-ps3-ps-vita-and-psp-games-online-and-mobile
Is this the source? Here it is mentioned that you can access the store through the console....
If not please tell us the source of your information.

All PSP roms are available on the web. PPSSPP is the best emulator for them. You can even do online or local multiplayer with Hamachi for it.

PS3 has many if not all the ROMS online, not 100% on this one. RPCS3 is the best emulator for that one.

Well, if you install from the disc on the console without an internet connection the game will play just fine. So from this point of view, there are no restrictions.

On the other hand, nowadays developers rely on internet to release incomplete games and patch them via updates. To give you an example, at least 75% of the physical games I have played on the PS4 installed an update on first boot. This means that without internet I would probably miss out on updated content / features, or even worse would end up facing game breaking bugs. So, from this perspective, it is unclear if the physical disc you own is actually 100% playable, even without restrictions.

PS4 emulation on the PC is definitely feasible due to CPU architecture, but current hardware is surely an obstacle. As for DRM-free, we're talking about Sony here so I don't think that's ever going to happen :)

Well I'm sure they authenticate the disc, so there's that.

Also many games probably released in quite a broken state, especially on the disc that had to be pressed some time before release day, and you'd really want to have at least the first patches.

Ok, the point about updates is a good one. So, if I get a second-hand PS3/4 game from Ebay, chances are that the files on the disk will be the very first version that was released, in whatever state that was in? So, without downloading updates, it could be kind of a crapshoot? Although, I guess physical GOTY editions might be a safer bet?

Regarding DRM though: so as long as I am satisfied with no further updates, it sounds like those outdated versions on the physical disks would be effectively DRM-free, if there is no authentication required?