Buying PS3 Games in 2026: Your Ultimate Guide

Back in the late 2000s, I chose an Xbox 360 over a PS3, mostly because all my friends were getting 360s and I wanted to play Halo 3 with them. After that, I skipped the next two Xbox generations in favor of the PS4 and PS5, thanks to games like Spider-Man and God of War. But even all these years later, I still regretted never owning a PS3. So last year, I fixed that by picking one up from my local retro game store, a journey I wrote about here on Pocket-lint. I went with a PS3 Slim, and it's been fantastic for revisiting classics I never got to play in their original form, like The Sly Cooper Collection, the Uncharted trilogy, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. One of the biggest surprises for me, though, was just how easy it still is to buy PS3 games -- even in 2026. Both new and used titles are out there, and they're not crazy expensive either. So, if you're thinking about picking up a PS3 -- or if you already have one and want to start building your collection again -- finding the games you want is easier than you might expect. And with game prices these days skyrocketing (looking at you, $80 Switch 2 titles), a cheap trip down memory lane might be exactly what you need. Here's how I started building my own PS3 collection from scratch and how you can do the same. There are a few different places I go to You can get games from a local game store or even brand-new ones from Amazon The first place I tracked down PS3 games was at my local retro game store. From my experience, there are tons of retro game stores in the US, Canada, and the UK (and other countries, I'm sure), so if you're looking to get your hands on both a console and some games easily, this is a good way to do so and support local businesses. If you don't know if there are any stores around you, a quick Google search should point you in the right direction, as that's how I found the store I visit frequently to get PS3 games. Of course, there are downsides to local game stores, one being that inventory greatly varies, as a lot of these stores depend on trade-ins, so it might not always be the easiest place to find the exact games you're looking for, especially if it's a title that happens to be more in-demand or rare. Also, cost can vary, too, so keep that in mind. The second place I've been able to reliably get games from is none other than Amazon itself. I've recently started playing through all the Metal Gear Solid games, and when I was looking for a copy of MGS4: Guns of the Patriots, Amazon was the easiest and cheapest place to find it. I was able to get a sealed, brand-new copy for just $20 (it wasn't sold by Amazon, just shipped by Amazon). Not every PS3 game is available on Amazon nowadays, but there are tons you can find new for reasonable prices, such as the Ratchet & Clank Collection, the Jak & Daxter Collection, Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands 2, and The Sly Collection, so it's worth a look to see if there are games of interest to you on Amazon at prices you're okay with. Another place I often check for PS3 games is eBay. I usually turn to eBay when I'm hunting for harder-to-find titles, since there's a good chance someone somewhere is trying to sell a copy. Additionally, I haven't personally used it, but a few of my friends have also had luck finding cheap used PS3 games on Facebook Marketplace -- though your mileage will vary depending on what's available in your area. PS3 PlayStation Store You can still buy PS3 games digitially One really awesome thing about owning a PS3 in 2026 is that the PlayStation Store is still surprisingly up and running. Unlike Microsoft, which shut down the Xbox 360 Marketplace in 2024, Sony has kept the PS3 PlayStation Store alive, and you can still buy games and DLC digitally. If you're focused on building a physical collection, the online store won't be quite as useful. But for games I don't really care about owning a physical copy of, it's been a great resource. Being able to buy a game and start playing it the same day is also a big plus. One game I recently picked up this way was Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. It was originally released on PS2, but it's also available on PS3 through the PlayStation Store, so I jumped at the chance to replay it. Not every PS3 game is available digitally, but there are still plenty of solid options, including The Sly Collection, LittleBigPlanet, Assassin’s Creed, God of War HD, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand Theft Auto 4. There is one caveat worth mentioning, though. To buy games on the PS3 PlayStation Store, you first have to add funds to your PlayStation account through the PlayStation Store website, since you can no longer use a credit card directly on the console. I'm not sure why it works this way -- it just does. Still, if that's the price of being able to keep buying PS3 games digitally in 2026, I can live with it. Overall, if you're thinking about playing the PS3 again in 2026 (or for the first time) and building a game library, you've got several options, each with its own pros and cons. Personally, I always start with my local retro game store, then check Amazon, and use the PS3 PlayStation Store as a last resort if what I'm looking for is there.