For some reason, our very good friends at Sony decided to release firmware 3.69 for the PSVita/PSTV and that managed to kill h-encore. As usual, newly released games from the next few weeks on will almost certainly require firmware 3.69 so we’ll take a look at what you’ll be missing out on if you choose not to say goodbye to your hack.

What happened the last time a similar situation occurred?

Like what happened when FW 3.61 was released, new games will not immediately ask for the new firmware. This is because physical cartridges are flashed days or weeks before release due to shipping. Digital-only games may be updated to require the latest FW quicker but this isn’t always the case. For example, Minecraft (v1.49) kept on supporting FW 3.60 until late May 2017, a whopping 9.5 months after FW 3.61 was released.

Looking at what happened in Aug-Sep 2016 when FW 3.61 was quite new, I was able to conclude that games released a few weeks to a month after the new FW have a good chance of still requiring the previous FW. Keep in mind that FW 3.61 was released on August 8, 2016 and the following were released after that date but only required FW 3.60:

Alone With You – Aug 23, 2016

Claire: Extended Cut – Aug 30, 2016

God Eater 2 – Aug 30, 2016

Project Diva X (NA/EU) – Aug 30, 2016

MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death – Sep 13, 2016

Which games are likely to be affected?

Here, we’ll be taking a look at games that’ll be released in October 2018 and onwards:

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight for EU/NA (December 3, 2018) The Japanese version was released earlier this year and runs on hacked firmwares

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight for EU/NA (December 3, 2018) Like P3D, the Japanese version was released back in May. Sorry Persona rhythm game fans, you’ll have to play the Japanese version!

Catherine: Full Body (February 14, 2019 in Japan as it was recently announced)

Death Mark for EU/NA (October 31, 2018) Again, the Japanese version was released earlier and supports hacked FWs

Chicken Range (October 25, 2018)

Anonymous;Code (later in 2018)

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (later in 2018)

Shovel Knight: King Of Cards (April 9, 2019)

Other games such as Fate/Extella Link in English which will come in later this year or next year

Some games, like Steins;Gate Elite (JP), Jack ‘N Jill DX and Super Life of Pixel, are slated for release this September so there’s still a small chance that they will require FW 3.69.

It must also be noted that game updates might require the latest FW even if the retail version (usually 1.0) doesn’t.

Conclusion

While there are around two dozen upcoming PSVita titles, I personally don’t think that it’s a good idea to update to 3.69 and lose your hacks. Remember, on your hacked PSVita, you can play thousands of titles via emulators AND dozens of homebrew game ports.

Before updating your PSVita / PSTV, think hard about whether it’s worth it or not because it most probably isn’t!