Confirmed: Patapon 2 Going UMD-Less for Stateside Debut

[eXo]

Once rumor, now true. In a statement released to press, SCEA communications director Patrick Seybold confirms that Patapon 2 will sold strictly as a digital offfering n North America, unbound by the shackles of UMD format. Only a voucher code good for downloading the title digitally via PSN will be included in retail packaging. Seybold [...]

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[Adiuvo]

It's nice to see that companies are moving into digital distribution. This voucher thing is a good system, and if the new PSP really doesn't have a UMD drive I can really see it taking off.

 

[Robby]

Would you think this new digital distribution thing could raise privacy or lower the amount of pirates for the PSP?

 

[Adiuvo]

I doubt it would lower the amount of pirates. People pirate because they don't want to pay. UMDs don't even take much space so if someone claims space as a reason they have to be lying.

 

[Slasher]

Would you think this new digital distribution thing could raise privacy or lower the amount of pirates for the PSP?

Don't think so, since we can already play pirated PSN games. The PSP is beyond ending piracy. With everything that has happened, there's absolutely zero chance of stopping it.

The PSP2 on the otherhand will likely adopt this new marketing/selling system and will in fact be unhackable because of [probably] changed hardware from the original PSP system.

 

[shinia]

I love this game
pata pata pata pon, pon pon pata pon...
it is fun...!!

 

[Maattt]

im not to keen on digital distribution..
at least with a hard copy you can do what you want with it (Lend it to people. Trade in )

And with Digital Distribution they have no limit with size anymore..
sure the games will be better but how big are they going to be.. the average person is going to want to download GB's of data.. especially with ISP download caps.

 

[The Teej]

im not to keen on digital distribution..
at least with a hard copy you can do what you want with it (Lend it to people. Trade in )

And with Digital Distribution they have no limit with size anymore..
sure the games will be better but how big are they going to be.. the average person is going to want to download GB's of data.. especially with ISP download caps.

Actually, with most games these days, the licensing agreement doesn't technically allow you to lend or trade in, but most people ignore that anyway.

Besides, with the PSN, you can let up to 5 other PSN users download your game, so it's just like borrowing. Unfortunately, you can't trade in yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if eventually you can sell back your licence for a small price - at a similar price point that most retailers give you. The key difference? Publishers get the extra money from the trade in, instead of the retailer, which lets the publisher put more money towards future projects.

This also has other notable advantages:

- It allows the developer to track just how many trade ins there are, giving a MUCH more accurate estimate of sales.
- It allows developers to resell the game for a cheaper price, while still making a profit per sale and pleasing the consumer
- It allows developers to see wether consumers prefer trade-in prices which will have lower resale value when trading it back in, over a full retail price which will have a higher resale value when trading it back in.

There's virtually no downsides to this pre-owned model. Bar the retailer, everyone wins.