Image: Push Square
If you’ve been spending money on the PS Store for over a decade, then you’ll probably remember it was once possible to purchase avatars on the PS3.
While this feature eventually got replaced by the ability to make your profile picture whatever you want, legacy support for the classic PSN avatars does still exist, and occasionally Sony will release redemption codes for some free ones. (Ghost of Tsushima’s anniversary is a recent example of that.)
However, we spotted a few isolated examples of fans complaining that their old PS3 avatars have gone missing, so we decided to take a look for ourselves. And it’s true!
We bought a handful of avatars on the PS3 back in the day, including one for Kung-Fu Rider (remember that?!) and PAIN. We can’t find any of these in the Premium Avatars category on our PS5.
We still have plenty of avatars to choose from, and we weren’t planning to swap out our Demon Slayer one anyway, but it’s interesting to see these ancient profile pictures nixed.
It seems if you’re still using a purchased PS3 avatar, then it’ll work. But don’t change it to anything else, because there’s a good chance you’ll lose access to it later.
Our guess is that this likely isn’t malicious, and it’s probably just a symptom of the PS3’s increasingly creaky architecture. Either way, we’re not going to complain too heavily about the loss of a JPG we bought over 15 years ago for pennies.
We have seen some people say they’re still seeing their purchased PS3 avatars, so your mileage may vary. It looks like we’ve (temporarily?) lost access to ours, though.
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.