Sony has announced that the PSP Comic Store will be shut down on October 30, 2012, leaving users without any means to access the store. Content purchased prior to the store closing will remain available for download until “mid-January 2013”. Once the servers are shut down, customers will only have access to content that they backed up using Media Go.
The PSP Comic Store has not been updated since July 2011, so this news is unlikely to stir up many complaints from customers. With that said, it is an important reminder about the major pitfall of all digital content. You don’t actually own anything, and only have a license to access the content for as long as the seller decides they want to make it available.
Despite the convenience of digital distribution, the truth is that it extremely restricts consumer rights when compared to the same product bought as a physical copy. The shutting down of the PSP Comic Store is the perfect example as to why users should not be so eager to accept the all digital future that video game publishers are pushing for.
Source: PlayStation Knowledge Center, via Joystiq
