They still work like a charm in cubase 8.5 and lower, also in 64bit. I think it’s only a company rule, Steinberg want to stop supporting 32bit and VST 2.x software, VST3 technology is no more experimental and it’s time to look forward. Most of the majority of software house are doing the same (recently Sonnox is upgrading their plug-ins to VST3 version and, believe me, it’s anyway late). VST3 offers many advantages, like less CPU charge, performance and the ability to switch off when not in use, and of course, side chain it’s easy and quick.