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PS+ Classics Catalogue - Buying PSP Games in 2024

I wanted to talk about the strange state of Cross-Buy games on the PlayStation store. Particularly in regard to retro games like PSOne classics, PS3, and even PSP slash Vita games and the new PS Plus Premium program with classic titles being added each month. 

If you’re not familiar, the Cross Buy initiative started way back in 2012 with the PS3 and Vita, where Sony would basically bundle Vita and PS3 versions of games together into one purchase. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Sly Cooper 4, Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault, and Sound Shapes were some of the first titles to participate in this program. Since 2012 this program has greatly expanded and become the norm in many ways with Cross Play and Cross Save options available in many games and platforms.

And then the other key component in this video is PS Plus Premium. The new tiers of the PlayStation Plus subscription program that for all intents and purposes replaced the PS Now program in 2022 and subtly raised the prices of PS Plus subscriptions while giving the impression of more value. The premium tier specifically includes a larger catalog of Classic playstation games that you could stream or download while subscribed. What you might not know is that when these classic games are added to the PS4/PS5 stores on PS Plus, they are also listed and available to purchase outright, and the juicy part is that they honor existing digital purchases from legacy systems like PSP and PS1 Classics. Most of the PS2 and PS3 Classics that are on PS4/PS5 at the moment are actually just ports or remasters that already existed for PS4 specifically (example Jak, Parappa). And then at the end of last year, everyone thought Thrillville off the rails would be the first emulated PS2 release on the service, but it also turned out to just be another PSP port. So we’ll have to wait and see if PS2 or PS3 ever get the same cross-buy treatment with direct emulated ports.

Enough about PS Plus, I want to talk about the cross buy shenanigans going on. As you may know, the browser storefront of the PS Store removed PSP, Vita, and PS3 titles from appearing way back in 2021. The PSN Store on PSP consoles was also shut down in that year. However, other than some annoying login and payment restrictions, you can still buy PSP games on a Vita or PS3 systems. Then on the PSP you can still access and download any digital purchases you made, even though the store doesn’t load. 

Another thing on the backend that went along with these service restrictions is that developers can no longer access or change their pricing for their games on these legacy systems. So basically any PSP, Vita or PS3 game listing is just stuck in time as it was in 2021. This has some good and bad things. The good thing is that the prices are now frozen from inflation or exchange rate adjustments, but the downside is that they are never going on sale again, unless you count the loophole I will get into later. Which leads me to some interesting findings and examples of why you should still keep an eye on the PS Store on these older systems if you still have them working and like to buy your digital games.

The most recent example that jumped out to me was Jet Moto 2, I had this game on PS1 growing up so I had already purchased it digitally a few months ago to play on Vita and PS3 via the PS Classic version. So lucky for me this appeared in my PS5 library as a owned game. Taking a look at the pricing of this game, if you buy it on a legacy system it only costs about $6, whereas if you buy it on PS4/PS5 it costs more than double! I checked a few other games like Hot Shots Golf 2, and it looks like PS1 Classics are all cheaper on the older systems.

Taking a look at some of the PSP ports it gets a bit more complicated. Resistance Retribution is more expensive on Vita/PS3. Meanwhile Killzone Liberation is slightly cheaper on PS3/Vita. Probably because resistance was a bit newer of a game on PSP? Hard to say. And then Syphon Filter Logans Shadow is not available standalone to buy on PS3/Vita for some reason, but it is bundled in a pack with Killzone Liberation which ends up much cheaper overall if you buy them both that way. I know that might be confusing but long story short, its worth looking at these old prices while they are still available. And yes, digital games you don't really own them and all that yada yada but that’s a whole other video discussion rabbit hole.

Lastly, if a game is cross-buy and has a native PS4 version, technically it can go on sale for older platforms. I’ve seen this user SilentBun on Twitter who still posts Vita game discounts when they happen that are cross-buy with PS4 versions. And as the ultimate example of cross-buy compatibility I wanted to look at RETRO CITY RAMPAGE DX. Which is the last game that ever released on PSP in 2016. This game still goes on sale regularly for around $5 and if you buy it on a PS4, you will also get it on Vita, PS3, and PSP. That’s some great value and that’s the amazing reality of cross buy titles when developers are nice enough to implement it. 

Anyways that’s what I wanted to talk about, hopefully one day we get PS2 and PS3 games properly added into this cross-buy mix, and less money grab “remaster” ports like Red Dead Redemption on PS4 for full price... Thanks for watching if you’ve made it this far, like and subscribe and all that good stuff. Let me know what games you want to see come to the PlayStation plus classics catalog.