Sony confirmed today that PlayStation Mobile, the development, support, and online shopping platform for indie games, will cease to exist later this year. The company will stop publishing games on July 15, and then the entire service will close on Sept. 10.
PlayStation Mobile has been available on PlayStation Vita and various certified Android devices like Sony’s Xperia smartphones and tablets.
Gamers with large indie libraries won't have to worry about losing everything though. You will still be able to buy and re-download games all the way up to Sept. 10, but in order to keep them after the service's closure you have to authenticate your devices by following a couple of steps.
PlayStation Vita users will have to go into their Settings, then PSN, then System Activation, on to PlayStation Mobile, to Activate, and then OK. Be sure to finalize your system's activation between today and Sept. 10.
Android users on PlayStation-certified devices have to open up the PSM app and simply launch any games bought before Sept. 10 to complete the authentication process.
Make sure you have all of the games you want downloaded in order to keep them because after Sept. 10, it won’t be possible to re-download purchased content. And if devices aren’t authenticated before Sept. 10, they won’t be able to access previously purchased games after that date.
PlayStation Mobile was designed to cultivate independent game development when it launched in 2012, but it failed to gain any steam. Last August, Sony pulled Android support for the platform and now the whole service is finally closing.
Sony’s ailing Music Unlimited service will also close later this month on March 29 after a disappointing run. A poor user interface, powerful competitors like Spotify and Pandora, and a limited music selection (despite Sony’s hand in that industry) were among its problems.
A message posted on the official PlayStation support forum that announced PlayStation Mobile’s closure reads: "We would like to sincerely thank our dedicated PlayStation fans and the development community for their participation in PSM."
Photo Credit: Sergey Galyonkin | Flickr
