Sony America director of hardware marketing John Koller has confided that the company plans to make "big pushes this year" towards downloadable games for the PSP handheld, releasing most digital versions on the same date as it's UMD physical counterpart.
The now timed release of digital games should force the quick death of UMD, the proprietary format that has been hated by retailers and consumers alike.
"Holistically, the idea of digital distribution fits into the world as we go forward," Koller said. "Not to say that retail isn't of extreme importance, because it is. But the idea of offering content to consumers, to make it easy, you can wake up in the morning, download something and go, it's very appealing.
"So one of our big pushes this year is to be sure that the right kind of content and the right kind of games in particular are placed on the PlayStation Network for download on the PSP.
"We've been engaged in a wide range of conversations with publishers over the last year, year and a half about software and games overall on the PSP. One significant topic that hasn't necessarily been covered a lot is inclusion of digital copies of the games that they're launching on UMDs.
"In the back half of this year, we should see a good rise in the amount of content that comes to PSN for the PSP. We're aware that most of the content thus far has been for PlayStation 3, and that's based on the usage model and who has been demanding that content. But as we continue, and there's more of a desire from the consumer for PSP content, we're going to really increase the size and amount of content that's available."
When asked about any set timeframe for the new digital titles, Koller made it clear that there are a few highly anticipated titles coming later this year that "marrying those launches with the digital versions of those launches obviously makes development sense".
"We haven't really decided how the timetable will work on launches that are digital versus retail, but we are looking at digital versions of the games that launch on UMD, yes."
"Holistically, the idea of digital distribution fits into the world as we go forward," Koller said. "Not to say that retail isn't of extreme importance, because it is. But the idea of offering content to consumers, to make it easy, you can wake up in the morning, download something and go, it's very appealing.
"So one of our big pushes this year is to be sure that the right kind of content and the right kind of games in particular are placed on the PlayStation Network for download on the PSP.
"We've been engaged in a wide range of conversations with publishers over the last year, year and a half about software and games overall on the PSP. One significant topic that hasn't necessarily been covered a lot is inclusion of digital copies of the games that they're launching on UMDs.
"In the back half of this year, we should see a good rise in the amount of content that comes to PSN for the PSP. We're aware that most of the content thus far has been for PlayStation 3, and that's based on the usage model and who has been demanding that content. But as we continue, and there's more of a desire from the consumer for PSP content, we're going to really increase the size and amount of content that's available."
When asked about any set timeframe for the new digital titles, Koller made it clear that there are a few highly anticipated titles coming later this year that "marrying those launches with the digital versions of those launches obviously makes development sense".
"We haven't really decided how the timetable will work on launches that are digital versus retail, but we are looking at digital versions of the games that launch on UMD, yes."
