Another PSP Title Dumps the UMD Format at Launch

Regardless as to whether their will be a new hardware iteration of the PSP any time in the near future, we've all heard that the UMD game disk format may not be long for this world. Sony can deny or "no comment" all they want on this, but publishers can and will take a look at dropping the UMD as part of their game launches as they please. Sony did it themselves with Patapon 2 earlier this month, and now we have another example with Unbound Saga. Granted, these two are not blockbusters and so the noisy, energy-sucking little disks will be around for a while, but the writing is definitely on the wall. Kotaku today quoted Mario Kroll, Director of Marketing at Vogster, developer of Unbound Saga as saying,

"We expect to see a growing trend where highly anticipated releases such as Unbound Saga will bypass the UMD format and the often challenging retail environment, being instead delivered directly to consumers. It certainly is a ‘win' for both content producers and gamers alike —- it avoids an unpopular delivery medium and costly manufacturing, while improving the timing and availability of great content to consumers when they demand it."

Yup, "wins for content producers and gamers" definitely sound like a good thing, but until a really important PSP title is released, sans said disks, the UMDs will keep on spinning. The thing is that something tells me that important title will be developed and published by Sony, or at least on their timetable. Keep an eye open for information about the PSP/UMD at E3 next month. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.

–Hobson's Choice