Sony: UMD-free PSP was always planned

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Naoya Matsui, the boss of Sony Computer Entertainment's product planning division, has revealed that the platform holder always planned to release a UMD-free PSP once the digital distribution market had matured.

"We'd planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning," Matsui told GameBusiness.jp (via Develop).

	PSP Go Hands-On #2 Original production 1:47  A more in-depth look from Official PlayStation Magazine PSP Go Hands-On #2 Original production 1:47  A more in-depth look from Official PlayStation Magazine Age Restricted Content Please enter your date of birth below in order to verify your age before watching this video     Verify Age You must be at least 0 years of age. Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again.. Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page PSP Go Hands-On #2 Original production 1:47  A more in-depth look from Official PlayStation Magazine PSP Go Hands-On #2 Original production 1:47  A more in-depth look from Official PlayStation Magazine                                                                                                             DEBUG - State:  Status: skip to curtain Now playing More videos Share this   Now playing More videos Share this   Email this video to your friends Enter your friends' email addresses below, one per line. This functionality is currently disabled. Embed this video into your own page Copy & paste the HTML code below into your own web page or blog. <iframe src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090705232412if_/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/video_embed.php?id=2729" width="418" height="378" border="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> PSP Go Hands-On #2 Original production 1:47  A more in-depth look from Official PlayStation Magazine Now playing More videos Share this

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"But if we'd simply released the hardware, there wouldn't have been much for everyone to enjoy. We needed to prepare the right environment for it first - things like the transferral of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as Media Go.

"We wanted to release it when the delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media. That's what we've been working on these past two years. We'll be selling the PSP Go alongside the existing PSP models, because it's a product targeted at those people who are more accustomed to digital content."

PSP Go, which will feature a download-only software model, is set launch in the US and Europe on October 1, and in Japan a month later.

Article supplied by Edge-Online

Edge-Online