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[Mutanthands]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sony-digital-releases-as-standard-could-be-five-years-away

Sony's John Koller has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company is still undecided on publishing PSP titles simultaneously on UMD and via digital distribution.

Although Sony wants to make as much content available to PSP consumers digitally, Koller said that day and date releases on both formats is a mid-term goal, and might not be standard for five years.

"In North America we haven't made a firm decision if and when we're going to launch day and date, retail and digital. In Japan we do, and Europe's going that way. In America we're looking at the opportunity," said Koller ahead of his session at the Game Developers Conference today.

"Digital kind of fits our view of the world in the mid-term, not in the short term – three to five years out. We want to start providing the content to the consumers and start to get them to a place where they can accept digital distribution," he added.

While Sony is listening to consumer demand for digital distribution, Koller said that retail is still essential to the business, and will remain key for game sales.

"Music hung on to the disc format for as long as possible, when consumers were actively saying 'we're very interested in digital'," offered Koller. "We're very happy to provide that content and at least allow the consumer to make that choice. We want to provide the option to wake up in the morning and get it on-line or walk to the store and buy it."

Sony has tried various digital delivery and pricing structures via the PlayStation Network already, and Koller said there are still business models the company intends to test in the market.

"We're looking at various models to see when to launch those. That's not to say retail is going away, because it's not. It's a balance, it's a very fine balance because retail does so much for us that digital maybe can't. So different models are floating around and we haven't made a firm decision on that."

I find it difficult to believe that one branch of the company can go in one direction, while every other territory goes in another. It's absolutely surreal.

This statement, plus the slow trickle of titles into the Playstation store, does not bode well for digital distribution in North America.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for SCEA to see the digital distribution light. So, if you want your games on the memory stick, and your favorite PS1 games on your PSP, you need to:

A. get a pandorable psp
B. get custom firmware
C. rip those games yourself

Who knows, maybe SCEA will say something new next week.

 

[Quixzlizx]

So are any 3000s hackable yet?

 

[Mutanthands]

So are any 3000s hackable yet?

Nope.

 

[AstroLad]

I don't blame him--UMD is an awesome format and it would be a shame for gamers everywhere to lose UMD games because of today's "hot thing" (digital distribution).

 

[Dead Prince]

FUCK you SCEA.

I'll stick to plan B.

 

[androvsky]

Translation: "This is exactly how much Gamestop has us by the balls."

 

[MikeE21286]

new PSP this year rumor now dead?

 

[Mutanthands]

new PSP this year rumor now dead?

Chance of a new PSP this year - Maybe
It being a no UMD model- Not...likely. To say the least.

 

[Stinkles]

I don't blame him--UMD is an awesome format and it would be a shame for gamers everywhere to lose UMD games because of today's "hot thing" (digital distribution).

:lol

 

[Quasar]

I guess SCEA is dragging its feet due to fear of gamestop.

 

[Blueblur1]

Ohh AstroLad. Bringing the laughs as always.

 

[Brofist]

new PSP this year rumor now dead?

They didn't rule out games on memory sticks so you never know.

 

[Mutanthands]

They didn't rule out games on memory sticks so you never know.

You can't have a UMD-less PSP and not go day and date digital with retail. The people without UMDs will (rightfully) feel like they have a gimped console compared to the models with the UMD.

 

[fatigues_gasolini]

I guess SCEA is dragging its feet due to fear of gamestop.

With good reason. You dont want to alienate the biggest base of your customers, especially with the situation Sony is in.

 

[Mrbob]

Sony needs to set up PSN like steam.

Be able to purchase games at retail or PSN. All game purchases link to your PSN account for future downloading if need be.

They can test this out with the PSP....three to five years for full scale DD cmon a portable is begging for this to become mainstream now.

 

[shuri]

Can you imagine going to a gamestop and finding out that they dont carry sony stuff anymore due to digital retailing? People would just say whatever and walk to the nearest walmart to buy that ps3 title they wanted to buy.

And that holds up for any console, obviously.. but i think that they need to realise that THEY are the ones doing the whole ball holding. Those stores are barely making money as it is, they will bow to them.

Stop carrying titles by a console maker because of digital distribution is pure suicide.

 

[Tobor]

Let's hope he's just running red herring detail.

There's no way any company can possibly be this stupid.

 

[STG!]

I find it difficult to believe that one branch of the company can go in one direction, while every other territory goes in another. It's absolutely surreal.

You find it difficult to believe NOW? It's been this way since the PSX/One days, especially with SCEA.

 

[Y2Kev]

hahaha oh really

 

[Stumpokapow]

I don't blame him--UMD is an awesome format and it would be a shame for gamers everywhere to lose UMD games because of today's "hot thing" (digital distribution).

I can play God of War on PSP UMD, then swap out for a Lemmings UMD demo disc, take a detour to watch Spiderman 3 on UMD video, and when I'm done catch some Viva la Bam Volume 3 on UMD TV video! Name another format that can give me so much variety!

 

[Grayman]

Can you imagine going to a gamestop and finding out that they dont carry sony stuff anymore due to digital retailing? People would just say whatever and walk to the nearest walmart to buy that ps3 title they wanted to buy.

And that holds up for any console, obviously.. but i think that they need to realise that THEY are the ones doing the whole ball holding. Those stores are barely making money as it is, they will bow to them.

Stop carrying titles by a console maker because of digital distribution is pure suicide.

Certainly. Hell todays systems in the internet age could probably ship the first 10-20 million direct to the early adopter consumers. With mainstream media products the retailer is more of a commodity than the product.

 

[AstroLad]

I can play God of War on PSP UMD, then swap out for a Lemmings UMD demo disc, take a detour to watch Spiderman 3 on UMD video, and when I'm done catch some Viva la Bam Volume 3 on UMD TV video! Name another format that can give me so much variety!

Plus the discs are like 1/5th the size of DVDs and even Blu-rays which is really helpful in terms of portability.

 

[Beer Monkey]

I can definitely see it being five years for major day-and-date console/handheld releases. I don't think some people here realize how strongly retail is entrenched and the realities of millions of gamers not playing online or even having broadband. If Sony's desire for 50GB console games hangs around, maybe longer.

 

[Mutanthands]

I can definitely see it being five years for major day-and-date console/handheld releases. I don't think some people here realize how strongly retail is entrenched and the realities of millions of gamers not playing online or even having broadband. If Sony's desire for 50GB console games hangs around, maybe longer.

Just for information's sake, how different is the North America retail model compared to the European retail model?

And how do they both compare to the Japanese retail model?

 

[Tobor]

I can definitely see it being five years for major day-and-date console/handheld releases. I don't think some people here realize how strongly retail is entrenched and the realities of millions of gamers not playing online or even having broadband. If Sony's desire for 50GB console games hangs around, maybe longer.

Handheld could be done day and date right now. There is absolutely no technical or valid business reason to not do it.

Sony is insanely lucky Apple will never put buttons on the iPhone or they would be completely hosed.

 

[Mrbob]

I can definitely see it being five years for major day-and-date console/handheld releases. I don't think some people here realize how strongly retail is entrenched and the realities of millions of gamers not playing online or even having broadband. If Sony's desire for 50GB console games hangs around, maybe longer.

Oh I definitely agree for console games...DD on a wide scale is a pipe dream anytime soon.

I also agree this is still an issue for portable games to a smaller extent. Download files are much smaller on PSP so it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I don't think retail should be cut out anytime soon, but doing dual releases on PSP doesn't seem too much of a stretch. I just wish sony was as forward thinking with PSN on PSP as Valve is with steam so they could set up this dual selling option and make them both work.

 

[Kapsama]

Certainly. Hell todays systems in the internet age could probably ship the first 10-20 million direct to the early adopter consumers. With mainstream media products the retailer is more of a commodity than the product.

You can't be serious. You can't have a mainstream product without retailers.

 

[AgentOtaku]

Wish they would commit to digital here in the states already.

 

[UntoldDreams]

Actually... Japan could get a UMD free psp way before USA/Europe.

Which just means an explosion of importing.

 

[Rolf NB]

Just for information's sake, how different is the North America retail model compared to the European retail model?

And how do they both compare to the Japanese retail model?

European post and parcel services generally deliver whatever you send on the next day if it originates from the same country. US mail apparently doesn't, or so I've been told. I think that's a big part of the problem.

I've asked similar questions a couple of times and the typical American response is that they don't have the patience nor the confidence in their post systems to deliver reliably and on time. Brick&mortar stores are the preferred way to get something quickly and with minimum hassle.

Needless to say, for me it's the exact opposite. I can order shit online at noon and have it in my hands the next day. I find shopping for games at b&m stores completely unattractive. Selection is usually much better at big online outfits, add to that the ease of price comparison, search functionality and integration of used product (amazon, play.com and others), and I don't ever want to go back.



edit: the UMD format is a bit unfortunate due to the size implications, thickness in particular. Going with caddies reduces chewed-up discs, but it's been obvious since the PSP-2000 that it holds back what they can do with their device form factor.

 

[BoilersFan23]

I mentioned it many times, the situation with retailers is a bit more difficult in NA. It's like if SCEA wants to release a game as a digital download, they cannot undercut a retailer's pricetag. Retailers are in business to sell games, and if someone can buy a game less elsewhere, that angers the retailers. That's why we see stuff with strange pricing like LocoRoco and PaRappa The Rapper. If the games were never retail in the first place, they could price much lower. Retailers are still very important to SCEA since there are still some who lack internet (or even WiFi). Retailers also make the majority of their money from PSP games, not PSP hardware. Retailers would also not be too happy selling PSP hardware if it meant all their games were being bought elsewhere (unless PSP was a full digital distribution platform and giving retailers a nice profit for everyone they sell).

It also explains why video store movie prices aren't exactly cheap either (movies costs the same or more than a DVD). We didn't see R&C: Quest for Booty and Siren: Blood Curse retail in NA on PS3 because either SCEA would have had to match the PSN price in retail (and make less profit back because retailer loyalties are figured in), or they'd have to raise the PSN price so they can make what they want in retail (because they cannot undercut retailers).

As long as retailers are still carrying PSP games and can still be found, either we'll never see a PSN release or we'll see a PSN release at a pricetag many may not be happy with.

 

[kaching]

He's just saying no to day and date, so staggered releases could still be on the table in the near term.

I don't think some people here realize how strongly retail is entrenched...

For the PSP? Are Gamestop et. al just hiding the massive quantities of PSP games they're selling from NPD? What exactly is retail doing for PSP besides moving the portable itself in decent quantities?

Koller claims retail "does so much for us" but I'm a little baffled by such a statement at this point. Hardware, OK. Software though, how much exactly?

 

[Kintaro]

Sad. Guess it's safe to sell my PSP now. They can do this right now but like I thought, they're too scared of retail and it's too entrenched.

 

[Y2Kev]

Did people consider that Sony could drop UMD and still ship games to retail on flash memory? The physical medium would be more costly, but obviously it hasn't hampered the DS too badly.

 

[neptunes]

Sony needs to set up PSN like steam.

Be able to purchase games at retail or PSN. All game purchases link to your PSN account for future downloading if need be.

They can test this out with the PSP....three to five years for full scale DD cmon a portable is begging for this to become mainstream now.

Console games don't come with unique serial keys like PC games

 

[kaching]

Did people consider that Sony could drop UMD and still ship games to retail on flash memory?

In a topic specifically about their digital distribution strategy? Why would we?

 

[BoilersFan23]

Did people consider that Sony could drop UMD and still ship games to retail on flash memory? The physical medium would be more costly, but obviously it hasn't hampered the DS too badly.

Now if Sony was able to ship games via other media, like flash memory or something at not too expensive of a price, I could see them maybe doing that. I just think the main issue is they still need retailers to sell their products and want to do what it takes to continue pleasing them.

Sad. Guess it's safe to sell my PSP now. They can do this right now but like I thought, they're too scared of retail and it's too entrenched.

Well, it's like if Patapon costs $15 on PSN and $20 in retail. If the majority were buying it on PSN and tons of retail copies were being left unsold due to people being able to find it cheaper elsewhere, retailers are not going to be very happy and could hurt Sony in the future by threatening not to carry their products (because they aren't making money having tons of unsold games sitting there, especially if they can buy the games elsewhere cheaper). Retailers are still very important to SCEA because not everyone has internet access, they can help push their products to common people, not everyone can make online payments (PSN cards are U.S. only, not Canada), and so on. Until every person has internet and WiFi connection (and B&M retailers are used less), SCEA will continue to use retailers as their priority.

Eric Lempel even mentioned the same thing back in 2007:

UMD-originated PSP games available as downloads over the PSN Store include Gangs of London and Wipeout, two games that have been available on UMD for a relatively long time. Lempel added that in order to avoid conflicts with retail partners, digital versions of games would not be released day-and-date with retail's UMD counterparts for the time being.

PSP’s digital distribution capabilities will continue to evolve, but Lempel added that the physical UMD disc and brick-and-mortar retailers will remain a large part of SCEA’s handheld strategy.

"…The retail business is still very important to us. And the UMD business is still doing very well for us and our retail partners… I would say [having a couple full games on PlayStation Store is] a glimpse towards the future. Definitely just by releasing a UMD title in the Store it definitely puts ideas in people’s heads, but no, I wouldn’t categorize this as a shift in business model at this point.”

http://www.edge-online.com/news/sony-ponders-psp-direct-online-store

 

[Y2Kev]

In a topic specifically about their digital distribution strategy? Why would we?

You can't have a UMD-less PSP and not go day and date digital with retail. The people without UMDs will (rightfully) feel like they have a gimped console compared to the models with the UMD.

You can have a UMD-less PSP and still have a retail product. Shipping games on variable-size flash memory would allow all games to be compatible with all PSPs as well.

 

[Mutanthands]

You can have a UMD-less PSP and still have a retail product. Shipping games on variable-size flash memory would allow all games to be compatible with all PSPs as well.

I don't think Sony would go through the trouble of dropping one media format just to establish another, for just the Americas. Then you would have 3 different media to juggle (UMD, Flash, digital download). Japan and Europe are on the way to full digital distribution, which would be the only reason to have a UMD-less model. Flash card games would be unnecessary in 2 of the 3 regions.

 

[kaching]

You can have a UMD-less PSP and still have a retail product.

Ok, maybe you could have made your original comment in a more targeted, less "you people" fashion, if that's what you were referring to.

Still, the main issue here should be, regardless of what retail-friendly physical format they use, they're opting to gimp the digital distribution and that's nuts.

 

[Y2Kev]

What makes you think Japan is on its way to digital distribution (JAPAN IS ON ITS WAY TO DESTRUCTION)? It's still fundamentally a cash-based society, and credit usage isn't really common like it is in this country and in Europe. Of course, we could use prepaid cards supposing they existed for Sony, but this is still going to complicate things a little further and it's going to absolutely decimate the second hand market in Japan, which is a very unique market.

edit: I see the statement in the article but I don't understand it, is what I mean. Why is Japan more suited for DD than America?

The implication is that were they to drop UMD from their next PSP model (which I contend is not happening and people that think it is really don't seem to get why they need it) and move to an all-DD model, they could still have a retail product by using this strategy.

It's increasingly clear they are not going DD only, so strictly the anti-UMD people (even though there are more than a few ways to circumvent UMD's limitations on current PSP models) don't have to make DD out to be the only option.

Ok, maybe you could have made your original comment in a more targeted, less "you people" fashion, if that's what you were referring to.

okay, whatever

Still, the main issue here should be, regardless of what retail-friendly physical format they use, they're opting to gimp the digital distribution and that's nuts.

I think Sony sees that DD would not be able to match the already-low volume of sales they have on their PSP catalog for all but the most successful of titles (Crisis Core as an example). The only parallels they really have to compare are Steam (which is a totally different style of platform, so it is a poor comparison) and the iPhone (a poor comparison for other reasons, namely average price of software sold, number of titles on the marketplace, cost of development, yadda yadda). So they're going to play it safe for the next few years.

 

[PSGames]

Can you imagine going to a gamestop and finding out that they dont carry sony stuff anymore due to digital retailing? People would just say whatever and walk to the nearest walmart to buy that ps3 title they wanted to buy.

And that holds up for any console, obviously.. but i think that they need to realise that THEY are the ones doing the whole ball holding. Those stores are barely making money as it is, they will bow to them.

Stop carrying titles by a console maker because of digital distribution is pure suicide.

You're not making any sense. why would walmart carry them if they aren't making any money?

 

[Grayman]

You're not making any sense. why would walmart carry them if they aren't making any money?

they hope you buy candy on the way out the door

 

[Mutanthands]

"Looks at title again..."

"Thinks for a moment..."

Dammit! Timetable, not timeline!

I swear, English used to be my first language...

 

[Kintaro]

Well, it's like if Patapon costs $15 on PSN and $20 in retail. If the majority were buying it on PSN and tons of retail copies were being left unsold due to people being able to find it cheaper elsewhere, retailers are not going to be very happy and could hurt Sony in the future by threatening not to carry their products (because they aren't making money having tons of unsold games sitting there, especially if they can buy the games elsewhere cheaper). Retailers are still very important to SCEA because not everyone has internet access, they can help push their products to common people, not everyone can make online payments (PSN cards are U.S. only, not Canada), and so on. Until every person has internet and WiFi connection (and B&M retailers are used less), SCEA will continue to use retailers as their priority.

Well, cest la vie. All it would take is Apple sliding in a more game oriented ipod/phone sku (say like iGame or something) with the same hardware with more traditional controls added on and Sony would be completely fucked and there's nothing they could do about it.

 

[KiNeSiS]

UMD > DS Chip/Cart

 

[mollipen]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Seriously, SCEA is god-damn useless. Is there anything that they do that isn't done better by one of the other Sony divisions?

Release your damn games digitally the same day they hit retail. How is that so hard? I'm not even asking you to get rid of those utterly useless UMD pieces of crap; just give me the option. I've sworn to never again buy another PSP game on UMD, and I'm sticking to that. Either it comes out digitally and I buy it, or I don't buy the game period.

 

[Grayman]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Seriously, SCEA is god-damn useless. Is there anything that they do that isn't done better by one of the other Sony divisions?

Release your damn games digitally the same day they hit retail. How is that so hard? I'm not even asking you to get rid of those utterly useless UMD pieces of crap; just give me the option. I've sworn to never again buy another PSP game on UMD, and I'm sticking to that. Either it comes out digitally and I buy it, or I don't buy the game period.

Releasing PSN games weeks/months earlier than europe

 

[Beer Monkey]

Handheld could be done day and date right now.

Handheld for a failed format like PSP? Or a vital format like DS?

I guess they could go DD only for PSP. Heck, if the Dreamcast had decent storage and standard broadband I suppose we could see a DD revival for it.

 

[kaching]

I think Sony sees that DD would not be able to match the already-low volume of sales they have on their PSP catalog for all but the most successful of titles (Crisis Core as an example). The only parallels they really have to compare are Steam (which is a totally different style of platform, so it is a poor comparison) and the iPhone (a poor comparison for other reasons, namely average price of software sold, number of titles on the marketplace, cost of development, yadda yadda). So they're going to play it safe for the next few years.

It's not a matter of matching, they're leaving money on the table by sticking primarily to physical distribution only. This should matter to them, *especially* since the sales volume is low right now.

I wouldn't count on iPhone Appstore pricing to stay exactly as it is for years to come. Sony shouldn't be conceding this marketplace to such a fierce competitor, in the near-term or the mid-term, because Apple will run away with it. There isn't any reason but the lack of will to do it stopping Sony from matching iPhone in terms of cost of development. Number of titles on the marketplace is again merely a function of will - will to provide fairly unrestricted, low-cost dev licensing, specifically.