UMD losing H'wood game

[wraggster]

Source - Hollywood Reporter

Exactly a year after it was launched in the U.S., 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 shrinking 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."

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 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.

[sroon]

Well no more UMD movies I guess!!

[felonyr301]

ohh well i dont care i just convert my movies

[dzdncnfsd]

no surprise. I'd rather buy the release on DVD where I can watch it just about anywhere in good quality rather than painting myself into a corner with a UMD.

[sroon]

UMDs are good because of the quality picture but using psp video 9 I can put anything I want for no price at all.

[felonyr301]

there is also avi player and pmp player to use full res videos on your psp so the umd has no quality advantage just need a good sized memory stick thats all

[Junior]

Does this actually surprise anyone out there? I mean seriously. To watch decline in sales of movies we can buy for cheese on a DVD on another medium that can then only be played on one single playera movie on a small device is one thing.

To blame the memory stick and media capacities of the PSP for the bad sales statistics is another.

WITH or withOUT the PSP being capable of playing movies without the need of a UMD:

I will not - I repeat - I will not - not EVER buy a movie on a UMD. It's just plain not worth the cash for what you'll get. Way to expensive.

And even IF they'd be lots cheaper, it's still not worth it.

Sony will have to learn this the HARD way, I guess. They're in for something if they keep up refusing to face this reality for much longer. If the Playstation 3 cannot play those UMDs as well, it won't be much help.

[RedKing14CA]

"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."

screw you!

(i typed a hecka long thing talking about the UMD disc... but... my internet tripped... half hour of typing down the drain... ohwell...)

edit- I wonder what would happen if sony released a UMD player for TVs... hmmm... oh im SURE they'd lose money because THEN those old lady's that watch movies all the time will buy an easy to use UMD player for like 100$ instead of the PSP... so they'd lose money.... yup... wouldnt make millions selling to non-gamers... nope... they're smart, perfect...

now everyone bow to sony or they'll release an update taking away more PSP features that wern't made by sony!!

[b8a]

No one I know is even the slightest bit interested in UMD movies. They cost more than a DVD and have more limitations, the biggest of which being that it's just insane to concieve of more than one person watching a single disk at a time. Sony majorly underestimated the social factor in watching movies.

But anyway, if everyone I know knew they were duds, then how come it took all of the studios THIS long to realize it? That's some massive stupidity. Just how out of touch do you have to be to think that people are going to go for this? Especially Wall Mart, and their (no offense anyone) low income clientelle. Right after the PSP came out they had a full quarter as much shelve space devoted to UMD movies as they had devoted to CDs. It was rediculous. I'm really, really surprised that Hollywood ever thought that UMDs had potential as a rule as opposed to the exception. A few releases on UMD here and there would be fine (I think just about everyone would agree the FFVII: Advent Children is a perfect UMD movie title), but rereleasing back catalouges and trying to put every new release out was a rediculous idea from the get-go.

While I was Christmas shopping this past season though, I saw the most rediculous thing. A couple of well-to-do parents were actually raiding the UMD shelves at an electronics retailer. I watched them, list in hand, pick up close to 20 UMDs, all the while muttering, "Is this the one that Jimmy wanted?". Clearly Sony knew there were people like this out there, I think they just WAY overestimated how many of us actually fall into the income bracket where we can afford to casually buy something so expensive and with such little value.

[Ichijoe]

Big surpise NOT!!

a) UMD Movies' cost a freakin' Mint!, Why should I shell out €25,00(EUR), for a UMD when I could have the same DVD for around €15~18,00(EUR),. You know it makes sence!

b) Who here actualy bought the PSP™ to just watch Movies with. I must have been sadly mistaken in thinking it was actually a Games' Machine! <- Sadly this appears to be the case! Where are the freakin' RPG GAMES S0NY?!?!

As other People here (myself included), have said before. Should S0NY really feel the need to pimp there UMD Movie Format. They should start thinking about a better (i.e. chaeper), delivery system then the PSP™ Perhaps something more iPod like. that only does Movies and perhaps Music too. Sadly the PSP™ is no replacement for my old arsed iPod™ (3G), and the new Video iPod is no replacemet for the PSP™. But, then I bought the iPod™ for it's intended use, and indeed still use it daily! The PSP™ on the other hand, with nothing curently intersting me is just sitting here on my Desk collecting Dust!

S0NY™ had better come to grips that the PSP™ is a Games System first and a Movie Platform second! Or S0NY could find itself goin the same way as those that came before 'em.

P.s. BTW: On a OT Side note. S0NY finaly killed off the Playstation / PSOne last week after more then 11 Years, and over 100,000,000 Units sold worldwide. But sor the sake of trivia this was not the longest lived Console. No that would be the NES (8-bit), Nintendo finaly gave that the boot, back in 2003! Almost 20 Years since it first came out!