• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Sony confirm it's no longer possible to transfer games from PS3 -> Vita as of May 11th

Kresnik

Kresnik

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,970
Haven't seen this widely reported or spotted a thread here yet:

Important notice

Find out which features are no longer available on your PlayStation console.
www.playstation.com www.playstation.com

From May 11th, 2022 content cannot be transferred from PS3 consoles to PS Vita systems. Content can still be downloaded directly to PS3 consoles or PS Vita systems or it can be transferred using a PC.

Existing PlayStation Plus subscriptions will not be affected by these changes. You can access and download all of your existing PlayStation Plus content. Additionally, you will still be able to access your already purchased content from your respective devices.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm told this is to do with two factor authentication. There were certain PS1/PSP games which would only play on Vita through PS3 transfer, I'm not aware that PC allows you to download these games and transfer them onto your Vita therefore there's no legitimate* way to get these games onto your Vita any more. Stuff like Burnout Legends, Metal Gear Solid & Silent Hill (all NA) are among the games that required PS3 transfer.

Another case where Sony have retroactively done something without announcing it ahead of time, I would've moved a couple more games
 
Buttonbasher

Buttonbasher

Member
Dec 4, 2017
4,036
That blows. Couldn't you also use the console to backup Vita and PSP/PS1 games? I assume that's gone too.

Ugh.
 
cyrribrae

cyrribrae

Chicken Chaser
Member
Jan 21, 2019
12,723
Huh. Can anyone explain how this used to work and what it was used for? Like why would some games require that you get it PS3 rather than directly on Vita?
 
Mifec

Mifec

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,731
edit: idk why that went through.

non shitpost version:
Kinda shit, did they give a timeframe for how long they plan on supporting all the vita stuff in general?
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Kresnik

Kresnik

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,970
cyrribrae said:
Huh. Can anyone explain how this used to work and what it was used for? Like why would some games require that you get it PS3 rather than directly on Vita?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Pretty much as simple as it sounds. The Vita has its own store and you can buy PS1 & PSP games from it.

Certain games weren't listed there like Burnout Dominator, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and The King of Fighters Collection (I've chosen three different ones to illustrate the point :D).

These games could be purchased from the webstore (previously) or the PS3 store (currently). If you downloaded them onto the PS3 and kept them in the download bubble (i.e. didn't install them on the PS3), you could then link up your Vita and transfer them onto the handheld where they'd be fully playable.

It was a bizarre situation as they should've just been made available in the Vita store as they were clearly compatible, but just weren't for any reason.

I believe this is a mostly full list of the games involved (some of these have since been delisted):

Activision Hits Remixed
Alien Crush
Alien Syndrome
Ape Quest
Auditorium
Beats
Bonk’s Adventure
Brain Pipe
Brothers In Arms: D-Day
Brunswick Pro Bowling
Burnout Dominator
Burnout Legends
Burst Angel
Cabela African Safari
Cabela Dangerous Hunts
Cabela North American Adventures
Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded
Capcom Classics Collection Remixed
Capcom Puzzle World
Castlevania Chronicles
Chopper I
Coded Arms
Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
Death Jr
Death Jr 2
Def Jam Fight For NY: The Takeover
F1 2009
Ford Racing
Gang Wars
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Gradius Collection
Gun: Showdown
I am an Air Traffic Controller Airport Hero Haneda
Ikari 3: The Rescue
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
International Track and Field
Kurulin Fusion
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel
Mind Quiz
NCAA Football 10
Need for Speed: Shift
Need for Speed: Pro Street
Need for Speed: Underground Rivals
Neopets: Petpet Adventures - The Wand of Wishing
Pandemonium!
Pinball: Hall of Fame
Pocket Pool
PBR: Out of The Chute
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
Puzzle Challenge: Crosswords
Puzzle Chronicles
Rengoku
Rengoku 2: Stairway to HEAVEN
Rock Band Unplugged Lite
SAR - Search and Rescue
Sasuke vs Commander
Sega Genesis Collection
Silent Hill
Silent Hill Origins
Sno-Cross: Championship Racing
State Shift
Swat: Target Liberty
The King of Fighters Collection
The Next Space
Time Soldiers
TNK III
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Touchdown Fever
Vanguard
 
jsnepo

jsnepo

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,648
Does CMA work with PSP? Maybe you can download using PSP then transfer to PC using CMA or QCMA then transfer to Vita. I've been wanting to test this but I don't have a PSP.
 
mausterhunter

mausterhunter

Member
Feb 1, 2019
1,646
CFW it is, then.
Incidentally, just in time for this announcement, I yesterday finished setting it up on my second vita. I'm still afraid to risk my main account on it, though I'm only in it for SD2Vita and Retroarch.
 
MinerArcaniner

MinerArcaniner

Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,249
This was how I got Def Jam FFNY onto my Vita.

Seriously don't get why it was ever necessary when the games worked fine once transferred.
 
RpgN

RpgN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,552
The Netherlands
This thread gave me a heart attack because I back up my vita games on the ps3 all the time. I just gave it a try and I am copying vita content from the ps3 to the vita no problem. This content was originally copied from the vita to the ps3 though.

Do you mean content downloaded directly on the ps3 from the ps3 store and then copy to the vita? I have not tried that method. Perhaps you might only mean this way?

Because that is a big difference
 
Jay_AD

Jay_AD

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,909
The old stores are husks of their former selves anyways.

The lesson Sony learned from the backlash is mainly to just quietly fade everything out instead of ending it all at once.

Protip: if you hack your Vita, you can simply transfer everything via FTP from any device. All your PSP/PS1 games work, not just the ones available on PSN. Hacking your Vita is an extremely simple process, no hardware modifications necessary.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Kresnik

Kresnik

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,970
RpgN said:
This thread gave me a heart attack because I back up my vita games on the ps3 all the time. I just gave it a try and I am copying vita content from the ps3 to the vita no problem. This content was originally copied from the vita to the ps3 though.

Do you mean content downloaded directly on the ps3 from the ps3 store and then copy to the vita? I have not tried that method. Perhaps you might only mean this way?

Because that is a big difference
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Sorry, all I've got to go off is what Sony posted on their update site which isn't very clear. It's possible that you may still be able to transfer backed up content and it's only new games that won't move, but they don't clarify this in the post.
 
RpgN

RpgN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,552
The Netherlands
Kresnik said:
Sorry, all I've got to go off is what Sony posted on their update site which isn't very clear. It's possible that you may still be able to transfer backed up content and it's only new games that won't move, but they don't clarify this in the post.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, it is a bit confusing but it's not your fault. File transfer between the vita and ps3 is a bit weird. There are 2 ways to transfer files. The system always asks you if you want to transfer files downloaded on the ps3 originally or files transferred from the vita before.

My guess is the latter is not affected and still works (for now). The former seems to be affected.

While it's still shitty, it's less severe than disabling all of it. I have many back ups on the ps3, I would suddenly lose all my save files if they were to pull the plug like this.
 
SJPN

SJPN

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,023
cyrribrae said:
Huh. Can anyone explain how this used to work and what it was used for? Like why would some games require that you get it PS3 rather than directly on Vita?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's for some games that weren't supported but still worked if you used the PS3 transfer process to bypass the PSP or Vita's store.

Same deal as the handful of 360 games that are BC on XBO/XSX but can only be bought on the 360 itself.
 
cyrribrae

cyrribrae

Chicken Chaser
Member
Jan 21, 2019
12,723
Kresnik said:
Pretty much as simple as it sounds. The Vita has its own store and you can buy PS1 & PSP games from it.

Certain games weren't listed there like Burnout Dominator, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and The King of Fighters Collection (I've chosen three different ones to illustrate the point :D).

These games could be purchased from the webstore (previously) or the PS3 store (currently). If you downloaded them onto the PS3 and kept them in the download bubble (i.e. didn't install them on the PS3), you could then link up your Vita and transfer them onto the handheld where they'd be fully playable.

It was a bizarre situation as they should've just been made available in the Vita store as they were clearly compatible, but just weren't for any reason.

I believe this is a mostly full list of the games involved (some of these have since been delisted):

Activision Hits Remixed
Alien Crush
Alien Syndrome
Ape Quest
Auditorium
Beats
Bonk’s Adventure
Brain Pipe
Brothers In Arms: D-Day
Brunswick Pro Bowling
Burnout Dominator
Burnout Legends
Burst Angel
Cabela African Safari
Cabela Dangerous Hunts
Cabela North American Adventures
Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded
Capcom Classics Collection Remixed
Capcom Puzzle World
Castlevania Chronicles
Chopper I
Coded Arms
Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
Death Jr
Death Jr 2
Def Jam Fight For NY: The Takeover
F1 2009
Ford Racing
Gang Wars
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Gradius Collection
Gun: Showdown
I am an Air Traffic Controller Airport Hero Haneda
Ikari 3: The Rescue
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
International Track and Field
Kurulin Fusion
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel
Mind Quiz
NCAA Football 10
Need for Speed: Shift
Need for Speed: Pro Street
Need for Speed: Underground Rivals
Neopets: Petpet Adventures - The Wand of Wishing
Pandemonium!
Pinball: Hall of Fame
Pocket Pool
PBR: Out of The Chute
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
Puzzle Challenge: Crosswords
Puzzle Chronicles
Rengoku
Rengoku 2: Stairway to HEAVEN
Rock Band Unplugged Lite
SAR - Search and Rescue
Sasuke vs Commander
Sega Genesis Collection
Silent Hill
Silent Hill Origins
Sno-Cross: Championship Racing
State Shift
Swat: Target Liberty
The King of Fighters Collection
The Next Space
Time Soldiers
TNK III
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Touchdown Fever
Vanguard
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Wild... thanks for the information :D
 
Xion_Stellar

Xion_Stellar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,281
I knew this was going to happen it's a good thing I had already transferred over my stuff back in February once I finally hacked my Vita and installed SD2VITA but it's really weird to me that the moment I partly step away from the platform last June (Been messing with Steam in anticipation of getting my Steam Deck) Sony continues to trip over itself in regards to the PSN Store.
 
RROCKMAN

RROCKMAN

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,817
Never buying a Sony handheld again

For what purpose are the stopping the transfer between two obsolete systems? Account security?

Wouldn't it simply make more sense to remove the ps3 and the vita from the current account system like they've clearly been itching to do and patch out the network handshake?
 
ForthU

ForthU

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,306
What if you don't set up 2FA? I know it's now mandatory to have the "fake 2fa password" on ps3 and vita, but 2fa isn't I think
 
Rowsdower

Rowsdower

Prophet of Truth - The Wise Ones
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
16,544
Canada
Aw, that sucks. Luckily I had everything I wanted on both systems, but still.

cyrribrae said:
Huh. Can anyone explain how this used to work and what it was used for? Like why would some games require that you get it PS3 rather than directly on Vita?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Kresnik gave an excellent explantion, but it was because the Vita and PS3 stores were seperate, and certain games were only available on one store (for whatever reason) but could be played on both PS3 and Vita. So Sony let you transfer the games between systems. Mostly to do with PS1/PSP games I recall.
 
ForthU

ForthU

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,306
Arukado said:
But you have to since the last update, don't you? It's mandatory.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm not sure. It's definitely mandatory to have that "fake" 2fa password on PS3, but not the actual 2fa system (which is what I think it's blocking these transfers). I have a secondary account without 2fa and I couldn't login with the latest update, so I went to the Sony account site and it gave me the possibility to create that password without setting up the 2fa.
 
Qwark

Qwark

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,017
Ugh, expected but still so dumb. I wish they'd push another Vita update that gets rid of the whitelist nonsense completely.
 
LD50

LD50

Banned
May 11, 2022
904
thaquoth said:
The old stores are husks of their former selves anyways.

The lesson Sony learned from the backlash is mainly to just quietly fade everything out instead of ending it all at once.

Protip: if you hack your Vita, you can simply transfer everything via FTP from any device. All your PSP/PS1 games work, not just the ones available on PSN. Hacking your Vita is an extremely simple process, no hardware modifications necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If you're still using your Vita in 2022 without CFW, Idek. Same goes for PS3 and maaaybe PS4. Once these consoles reach legacy status, I would say unlocking their full potential is essential.
 
neoak

neoak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,258
mausterhunter said:
CFW it is, then.
Incidentally, just in time for this announcement, I yesterday finished setting it up on my second vita. I'm still afraid to risk my main account on it, though I'm only in it for SD2Vita and Retroarch.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Been using SD2Vita on PSN for years because my Vita cards died and I'm not paying a ton for the unreliable 64 GB.

As long as you don't pirate, you should be fine.

No clue about Retroarch but haven't seen reports of bans.
 

Deleted member 17210

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,569
Thanks for the (lack of proper) warning, Sony. I hope I transferred all the PSP games I can't directly re-download directly on Vita.
 
Arukado

Arukado

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,290
ForthU said:
I'm not sure. It's definitely mandatory to have that "fake" 2fa password on PS3, but not the actual 2fa system (which is what I think it's blocking these transfers). I have a secondary account without 2fa and I couldn't login with the latest update, so I went to the Sony account site and it gave me the possibility to create that password without setting up the 2fa.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The "fake" 2fa is, which is the only 2fa for ps3 and vita, and what we assume is the cause for this, but who knows with Sony at this point. They probably are using it as an excuse.
 
KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,959
Osaka, Osaka
So on one hand, who cares? You can download things from PC to Vita and directly to the Vita which is probably much faster than the days when your PS3 needed you to set aside some HDD space to be a content hub for your PSP, similar to a Mac and an iPod. It's antiquated.
As long as the Vita store is still up we're good.

On the other hand, what does anyone gain by them taking this away? Such a weird move by Sony, among many.

Must have been some exploit or some thing. I dont know if Xbox or Nintendo does this, but it feels like Sony cares so much about fighting piracy on dead platforms (that they themselves killed).
 
Arukado

Arukado

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,290
KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd. said:
So on one hand, who cares? You can download things from PC to Vita and directly to the Vita which is probably much faster than the days when your PS3 needed you to set aside some HDD space to be a content hub for your PSP, similar to a Mac and an iPod. It's antiquated.
As long as the Vita store is still up we're good.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Some games can no longer be downloaded and played on the Vita because of this:
Kresnik said:
Certain games weren't listed there like Burnout Dominator, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and The King of Fighters Collection (I've chosen three different ones to illustrate the point :D).

These games could be purchased from the webstore (previously) or the PS3 store (currently). If you downloaded them onto the PS3 and kept them in the download bubble (i.e. didn't install them on the PS3), you could then link up your Vita and transfer them onto the handheld where they'd be fully playable.

It was a bizarre situation as they should've just been made available in the Vita store as they were clearly compatible, but just weren't for any reason.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,959
Osaka, Osaka
Arukado said:
Some games can no longer be downloaded and played on the Vita because of this:
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that loophole. Those games were technically unsupported but would still install. I remember noticing some of my PSone games do that. It reminded me of how some PSone games would be PS3 only without a PSP install option back in those days as well. Maybe Sony's QA found emulation bugs that didnt mean their standards? Maybe they just didnt bother to vet everything?
Either way, this sucks more than I thought it did.

And this is why I hack/jailbreak all of my systems once a successor drops and the support starts drying up. I dont install new firmware updates until the hackers say it's cool to do so.

Sony has some weird habits with legacy stuff, I swear.
 
Dr. Zoidberg

Dr. Zoidberg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,210
Decapod 10
Welp, guess I can delete all those bubbles off my PS3 now and free up that space. Hopefully my 32GB vita memory card doesn't die because I'd hate to lose access to Gradius Collection or Castlevania Chronicles, though I guess this can still be done on PC?
 
OP
OP
Kresnik

Kresnik

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,970
Alirezay75 said:
This is what i want to know as well, can you transfer backed up content?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

A user on twitter has reported to me that backed up content still works, but I haven't been able to test this myself as my PS3 is at my parents. So, there's hope I guess but I'd get backing up to PC if I were you.
 
Akoi

Akoi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
464
WA
If it wasn't clear before it's clear now, anyone that has a vita should hack it and then you can backup/restore/transfer your games anywhere and still do everything on your system. There is literally no downsides to hacking a vita. Sony doesn't care about vita owners and hasn't for years.

The only way you will get banned after hacking your vita is if you start cheating online or something.
 
Strike

Strike

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,334
That's lame. Suppose I should be getting back to that backlog real soon before they up and decide to strip even more features.
 
Musubi

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
23,611
Damn that sucks. Hopefully I have MGS already loaded on my Vita.
 

Kratos2098

Member
Feb 18, 2022
1,976
thaquoth said:
The old stores are husks of their former selves anyways.

The lesson Sony learned from the backlash is mainly to just quietly fade everything out instead of ending it all at once.

Protip: if you hack your Vita, you can simply transfer everything via FTP from any device. All your PSP/PS1 games work, not just the ones available on PSN. Hacking your Vita is an extremely simple process, no hardware modifications necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Are you giving anything up by hacking your VIta? Any risks?
 
Jay_AD

Jay_AD

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,909
Kratos2098 said:
Are you giving anything up by hacking your VIta? Any risks?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You should be fine as long as you're not pirating anything and accessing PSN with that I guess?

Never had any issues with my account.

There's always a risk of course, but conventional wisdom is that Sony does not really care if your vita is hacked or not as long as you're not doing anything untoward with it and wave a flag about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.