Sony has officially announced that it intends on closing its seminal PSP Digital Comics Store on October 30th. Customers will have the ability to read all of the content until January 2013, when that too when will be shut down. I would right now recommend that you download any digital comics you might have bought to back it up via MediaGO. This tool basically allows users to store their PSP content on the computers.
This entire situation raises some interesting issues on the ownership of digital comics. If the Sony PSP store will close and prevent everyone from enjoying their legitimate purchases, what happens if Comixology or other indie companies decide to close their doors? Millions of people would lose access to the digital editions they purchased and be out of luck.
Sony has not announced what it is going to do with their service and if it might transition to the PSP Vita or their line of tablet computers. It would make sense for the company to push their digital comics line to the Sony Tablet S, Tablet P and Xperia. This screens give you a way better visual experience on their large screens then the PSP ever did. With the way Sony is handling things these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just got out of the comics game altogether.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.