FACT CHECK: Are PlayStation 3 Servers Shutting Down Forever On June 3?

A video shared on Instagram claims PlayStation 3 servers are permanently shutting down June 3 this year.

Verdict: False

There is no indication PlayStation 3 servers are being permanently shut down in early June. The PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3 was previously scheduled for closure on July 2, but that decision has been reversed.

Fact Check:

Sony’s gaming console PlayStation 3 was first released in the U.S. in late 2006, according to USA Today. The April 25 Instagram post shows a TikTok video concerning servers used to play PlayStation 3 games.

“Playstation 3 servers are shutting down forever on june 3rd 2021,” text inside the video reads. “Make sure you play all of your childhood games before its too late. You wont ever be able to play again Because it is all sadly coming to an end.”

However, Check Your Fact found no indication PlayStation 3 servers will be permanently turned off in early June. No announcement to that effect appears on PlayStation’s blog or in its social media posts. Sony also doesn’t appear to have mentioned the supposed server deactivation in any press releases. (RELATED: Did Kevin McCarthy Say, ‘There Are No Mass Shootings In Japan Because There Are No Video Games There’?)

The inaccurate claim may have stemmed from confusion about a notice visible on the PlayStation website March 29 that said that the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita consoles would respectively close July 2 and Aug. 27 and that the remaining purchase functionality for the PlayStation Portable would end July 2. In that notice, PlayStation said customers would still be able to “re-download and play previously purchased game titles.”

On April 19, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan announced that the company had changed its plan, saying it “will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices.” The PlayStation Portable “commerce functionality will retire on July 2, 2021 as planned,” according to Ryan’s announcement on the PlayStation blog.

Check Your Fact reached out to PlayStation for comment on the post’s claim and will update this article if a response is provided.

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