PS3 and PS Vita players struggle to download games from the PS Store

PS3 and PS Vita players are struggling to download their purchased games through the PS Store.

Many players have reported being unable to download their best PS3 games and best PS Vita games despite purchasing and owning them. PlayStation users are greeted with an "error occurred" message whenever they try and download a game from either the PS3 or PS Vita PS Stores.

Have you been impacted by the current download issue plaguing PS3 and PS Vita?

The PS3 and PS Vita download drama is a worldwide issue

The issue was brought to light through a thread on Reddit, where players flocked to share their current struggles on the situation. Photos shared in the thread showed off the error message "an error occurred during the install operation (80029509)" when trying to download God Hand to the PS3. The Vita had a similar message that said "an error has occurred. (NP-9948-0)." Sony has not responded to the issue at the time of writing this article.

Some users speculated in the comments that the recent and surprising PS3 firmware update may be the cause of the issue. Though, that doesn't explain why the PS Vita is also seeing the same issues. Apparently, a few players were able to force their way through the error message and get the games to download, it just took them many, many, many attempts to do so.

Images of the error messages taken by Reddit user Vince-vdv!

Players also pointed out it wasn't just games affected but DLC downloads as well. People's attempts at rebuilding the database or restoring the PS3 and PS Vita to their factory settings have been futile as well. As it stands, we are currently at the complete mercy of Sony until some form of a fix is issued.

Have you encountered this issue at all? Are you still using your PS3 or PS Vita? Do you think there is a conspiracy here with the recent PS3 update at all? Let us know all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below!

PlayStation Vita PlayStation 3

Written by Sean Lawson

Sean is a Staff Writer with a focus on the geekiest Sony news. He writes stories about unobtainable PlayStation trophies, the best PS Plus games, as well as RPGs and Fighting games. He is also excited for Tekken 8, Dragon Age Dreadwolf, Baldur's Gate 3, and Dragon's Dogma 2 to launch on PS5. Sean’s favourite games include Mass Effect, Tomb Raider, Tekken, and Persona.