UMD facing last rites

TheBlackCat · Post by **TheBlackCat** » 2006-03-30 05:35pm

Sony's Universal Media Disc facing last rites

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Exactly a year after it was launched in the United States, the Sony PlayStation Portable's days as a hand-held movie-viewing device might be numbered.

Disappointing sales have slowed the flow of movies on the proprietary Universal Media Disc to a mere trickle. At least two major studios have completely stopped releasing movies on UMD, while others are either toying with the idea or drastically cutting back.

And retailers also are cutting the amount of shelf space they've been devoting to UMD movies, amid talk that Wal-Mart is about to dump the category entirely.

Wal-Mart representative Jolanda Stewart declined comment on reports that the retailer is getting out of the UMD business. But studio sources say such a move is imminent, and a check Wednesday of a Wal-Mart store in Santa Ana, Calif., revealed a drastic shrinkage of UMD inventory. Several shelves of movies in the PSP section were gone; all that remained were seven UMD titles sitting bookshelf-style on the top of the PSP section, with no prices or other information.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has completely stopped producing UMD movies, according to executives who asked not to be identified by name. Said one high-ranking exec: "It's awful. Sales are near zilch. It's another Sony bomb -- like Blu-ray."

(Sony, in fact, vowed Wednesday to stick by the announced May 23 street date for the studio's first batch of Blu-ray Disc titles despite reports that the next-generation hardware needed to play the discs likely won't arrive in U.S. stores until the following month at the earliest.)

Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment also is said to be out of the UMD business. "We continue to evaluate the PSP platform for each title, and if it makes sense for business reasons and the target audience, we will release them," spokeswoman Brenda Ciccone said. "Our focus right now is much more aimed at HD (high-definition) at the moment, though."

A high-ranking executive was more blunt: "We are on hiatus with UMD," he said. "Releasing titles on UMD is the exception rather than the rule. No one's even breaking even on them."

Also out of the UMD business is Image Entertainment, while other studios -- including 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment -- have drastically slashed release schedules.

"No one's watching movies on PSP," said the president of one of the six major studios' home entertainment divisions. "It's a game player, period."

Observers speculate the studios released too many movies, too fast. Within five months of the PSP's March 2005 launch, 239 movie and TV titles already were either in the market or in the pipeline -- a significantly higher tally than games, according to the DVD Release Report.

But while sales were initially strong -- two Sony Pictures titles even crossed the 100,000-unit threshold after just two months -- the novelty quickly wore off, observers say. The arrival last fall of Apple's video iPod only hastened the PSP's decline as a movie-watching platform.

Benjamin Feingold, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, was a big believer in PSP as a movie-watching platform. He still is, even though he concedes retail shelf space for UMD movies is on a sharp decline and his own studio is being "more selective" in choosing movies for UMD release.

Feingold believes the PSP's biggest drawback as a movie-watching device was the inability to connect the gadget to TV sets for big-screen viewing, "which would have made it more compelling," as well as the inclusion of memory stick capability.

"I think a lot of people are ripping content and sticking it onto the device rather than purchasing," he said.

But next week, Sony Computer Entertainment executives will begin making the rounds of the Hollywood studios to discuss plans for making the PSP able to connect to TV sets.

"We're hoping the format's going to be reinvigorated with next-generation capability that may include living-room or normal television playback," he said.

If true, this seems worse than earlier reports were indicating.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-30 06:02pm

They even try to blame piracy.

TheBlackCat · Post by **TheBlackCat** » 2006-03-30 06:13pm

Except it isn't strictly piracy, they are talking about people ripping movies they legally own. That gets into a grey area (you are supposed to be able to make backups of works you own if you make the backups yourself, but you aren't supposed to crack copyright protection schemes, so there is a bit of a contradiction). They want people to buy movies they already own a second time for up to 3 times the cost, and get mad when people find ways to play their DVDs on the PSP.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-03-30 06:51pm

UMD was always going to be Minidisc II.

Always.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-30 07:00pm

I just want to know why Sony keeps chasing the 'controlling standard' thing. *Especially* when things like MS, UMDs etc are more expensive than the other standards.

Silver Paladin · Post by **Silver Paladin** » 2006-03-30 07:03pm

Stark wrote:I just want to know why Sony keeps chasing the 'controlling standard' thing. *Especially* when things like MS, UMDs etc are more expensive than the other standards.

Because they get a liscensing fee for every product released on the priorietary media.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-03-30 07:06pm

BUT IT NEVER, EVER WORKS.

They've been blowing money and production on their retarded, substandard 'standards' for ages, and nobody ever uses it! The only people that use MS are the few that got locked into it with sony products - they're slower, more expensive than the other formats. UMD, MiniDisc, it never works and they waste so much time and money. Can't they just swallow their pride and go back to making reputable consumer electronics?

Laird · Post by **Laird** » 2006-03-31 12:27pm

I'm glad it failed, crappy media for a crappy Platform. Next the PSP will die.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-31 12:50pm

Laird wrote:Next the PSP will die.

Doesn't look that way when you actually take numbers into account.

TheBlackCat · Post by **TheBlackCat** » 2006-03-31 01:32pm

You mean the numbers where the DS has sold about 50% more than the PSP despite significant DS shortages? The numbers where there have been nearly three times as many DS games sold as PSP games?

DaveJB · Post by **DaveJB** » 2006-03-31 01:34pm

Vendetta wrote:UMD was always going to be Minidisc II.

Always.

Minidisc is actually quite widely used by radio broadcasters, I wouldn't call it a flop. If anything, UMD is HiFD II (or III, depending on how you look at it).

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-31 02:14pm

Yeah, and I personally love my portable MD recorder.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-03-31 02:15pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Laird wrote:Next the PSP will die.
Doesn't look that way when you actually take numbers into account.

UMDs aren't the way serious PSP users go. Serious ones get 1Gig + memory cards, and put a movie on theirs, and SNES/Neo Geo emulator, and various other nicknacks. Homebrewed Quake 2 port? Mmm.

The fact that you can just put movies on memory card though is probably what's driving the nail in UMD. And the price point. If they were 10 bucks each, I'd get a ton.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2006-03-31 02:59pm

So yet another Sony format bites the dust. It can join MiniDisc, ATRAC (or whatever it was) and all the rest. Sony just doesn't get it.

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2006-03-31 03:15pm

Well, color me surprised: a generally-inferior system-exclusive format trying to muscle in on a market that uses a superior widely-accepted format falls flat on its face. Nope, didn't see that one comin'.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-03-31 03:18pm

Sharpshooter wrote:Well, color me surprised: a generally-inferior system-exclusive format trying to muscle in on a market that uses a superior widely-accepted format falls flat on its face. Nope, didn't see that one comin'.

Just a question. But um. What format are you talking about? UMD is a PSP only thing, and I don't know of any 'standard' portable video format that's not DVD. Which is too large.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2006-03-31 03:25pm

No there's a "micro" DVD format too.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2006-03-31 03:34pm

Nephtys wrote:
Sharpshooter wrote:Well, color me surprised: a generally-inferior system-exclusive format trying to muscle in on a market that uses a superior widely-accepted format falls flat on its face. Nope, didn't see that one comin'.
Just a question. But um. What format are you talking about? UMD is a PSP only thing, and I don't know of any 'standard' portable video format that's not DVD. Which is too large.

In Japan there is some terminals in Kombini where you can buy some shows to be directly (with DRM of course) transfered on flash card (and it's even optimised, if it is GBA movie player, a PDA or whatever).

they should have put tv shows on UMD rather thanfull lenghts movies...

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2006-03-31 03:55pm

TheBlackCat wrote:You mean the numbers where the DS has sold about 50% more than the PSP despite significant DS shortages? The numbers where there have been nearly three times as many DS games sold as PSP games?

Considering how ridiculously popular all of the various gameboy models are - and always have been - I don't see selling half the amount with your first attempt at a portable console being a particularly terrible fate.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2006-03-31 03:59pm

The ratio UMD/console and games/consoles are far less than the games per DS ratio. Or as most consoles the marge are made on software sales and licensing fees not on hardware.

Shogoki · Post by **Shogoki** » 2006-03-31 04:54pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Laird wrote:Next the PSP will die.
Doesn't look that way when you actually take numbers into account.

A couple of questions im not really sure of the answers for:
Didn't the PSP actually sell more UMD movies than games? I think i read that somewhere. If that's so, wouldn't the studios and retail channels stopping support for UMD actually hurt more than if every developer decided to stop making PSP games? (you know, royalties, the only thing i can think of to justify the ridiculous price on UMD titles, and sudden price drop to "included with the dvd") And wouldn't the PSP become a money sink for Sony without those hefty royalties, or are they finally making a profit from selling PSP hardware?

What im getting to is, if the UMD royalties are a big part of the earnings related to the PSP, wouldn't this be, like, disastrous?

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-03-31 05:10pm

The way I see it...(my guesstimates and predictions)

In the United States, the DS and PSP are selling about evently right now from current sales numbers.

In Japan, the DS is usually outselling it two- or three-to-one, sometimes more.

And UMD sales are very bad.

It costs much less to develop a game for the DS, yet it reaches a larger audience (at least in Japan) and can sell more. I'm predicting that we'll see less Japanese developers developing for PSP, or at least less developing exclusively for PSP. If that happens, AND studios stop publishing in UMD format, PSP sales will get worse in Japan and the DS will take a significant lead in the U.S..

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » 2006-03-31 05:13pm

but at least, i've seen that some av company were releasing bukkake's UMD.
That's what digital entertainement is designed for

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2006-03-31 05:19pm

Nephtys wrote:Just a question. But um. What format are you talking about? UMD is a PSP only thing, and I don't know of any 'standard' portable video format that's not DVD. Which is too large.

DVD is what I'm talking about - DVDs have been in use and circulation long enough for them to become the general standard medium for data and visual-based entertainment storage. With their higher capacity, they have room for not only the movie but also the special goodies and extras that have become a staple of film DVDs, and can be used not only by stand-alone players but also by gaming consoles and PCs that have adopted the format due to the great advantages it gives - we even have portable versions of the players available with the display and speakers and such included. Meanwhile, the UMD has less capacity and is system-exclusive, and a good number of the products Sony's tried to sell on that format are already readily available on DVD with their bells and whistles, if not also at a lower price or can just be recorded to the sticks and played on the unit itself.

Rather than go with this UMD crap, if Sony was hell-bent on keeping the movie-player aspect of the PSP, an external dock of some kind could have probably worked better. Snap the PSP into the top of the frame, connect a few basic hook-ups, then pop a friendly regular DVD into the player and have the data routed to the PSP's display and speakers.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-03-31 06:55pm

Sharpshooter wrote:
Nephtys wrote:Just a question. But um. What format are you talking about? UMD is a PSP only thing, and I don't know of any 'standard' portable video format that's not DVD. Which is too large.
DVD is what I'm talking about - DVDs have been in use and circulation long enough for them to become the general standard medium for data and visual-based entertainment storage. With their higher capacity, they have room for not only the movie but also the special goodies and extras that have become a staple of film DVDs, and can be used not only by stand-alone players but also by gaming consoles and PCs that have adopted the format due to the great advantages it gives - we even have portable versions of the players available with the display and speakers and such included. Meanwhile, the UMD has less capacity and is system-exclusive, and a good number of the products Sony's tried to sell on that format are already readily available on DVD with their bells and whistles, if not also at a lower price or can just be recorded to the sticks and played on the unit itself.

Rather than go with this UMD crap, if Sony was hell-bent on keeping the movie-player aspect of the PSP, an external dock of some kind could have probably worked better. Snap the PSP into the top of the frame, connect a few basic hook-ups, then pop a friendly regular DVD into the player and have the data routed to the PSP's display and speakers.

If it can play movies, then why not use that capacity? Especially if it can accept essentially a miniature DVD and let you just take it on the go? The reason UMD failed was not because it's a new medium, but rather that it's more expensive than DVD, and serious users would use other more adaptable means to get movies on there, such as memory cards.

PSP's games were less than stellar, but 1:1 in the US with Nintendo is phenomenal for a handheld. When was the last time ANYONE had a handheld competing favorably with a gameboy, hmmm? They're aiming towards different audiences anyway. PSP's leaning towards people who want a little playstation or movie player, while DS is going for the gameboy purchasers they've had for fifteen years.

What is hurting PSP of course, is how they really seem to disapprove of the homebrew community. Damn their patches.