Sony Announces Shut Down Date For PlayStation Mobile

Sony Computer Entertainment's President and Group CEO Andrew House is reflected in the display screen of a PlayStation Vita handheld game console as he speaks during an interview with Reuters in Makuhari, east of Tokyo September 18, 2014. Sony Corp's game division head said he hopes the unit can raise its profit outlook for a second time this financial year as sales of the latest PlayStation console and subscription services for games and other content far exceed expectations. Reuters/Yuya

Despite having a few hit games for both the PlayStation Vita and Android devices, Sony has decided that PlayStation Mobile will shut down this year. According to this article from Eurogamer, the shut down will reportedly occur on July 15 and any in-app purchases or re-downloads of games or applications will not be possible after Sept. 10 of this year.

In addition to the shut down, it has also been stated that Android users will also have a limited time simply downloading the PlayStation Mobile app now. After Sept. 10, Android users will no longer be able to download the PlayStation Mobile app for their Android devices.

Fans of the games will be happy to know that they can still keep the copies of the mobile games from PlayStation Mobile, though the process in doing so is a bit long and complicated. Users with a PlayStation Vita will have to do the following: Go to Settings then click PSM, afterwards go to System Activation, then PlayStation Mobile, then Activate and finally press OK.

Android users will have a simpler process if they want to keep any games bought from the PlayStation Mobile store. The user needs to open up the PSM app and launch any content or games between April 10 and Sept. 10 to complete the authentication process to keep the games.

"We would like to sincerely thank our dedicated PlayStation fans and the development community for their participation in PSM," states a message on PlayStation.com.

Launched back in 2012, PlayStation Mobile was meant to be the successor for the previous attempt at bite-sized gaming in PlayStation Minis, which was originally for the PlayStation Portable. While it did have a few noteworthy games, it obviously wasn’t enough and now Sony has decided to shut down PlayStation Mobile completely.

As a small tribute to some of the games under PlayStation Mobile, Pocket Gamer has released a list of the 20 best games that were under the PlayStation Mobile banner. It’s currently unknown if Sony plans to follow up PlayStation Mobile with another set of mobile games or if the company will stop trying to make mobile games altogether.

Contact Writer at: n.parungo@ibtimes.com.au