UMD Fallout – Universal abandons format

More movie disaster for PSP.

Both Universal & Image Entertainment have announced that they have abandoned the UMD format for future Movie Releases.  Although Sony had hoped that this would be one of the major selling points for the handheld.

One Universal executive told the Hollywood Reporter: “It’s awful. Sales are near zilch. It’s another Sony bomb – like Blu-ray.”

To make matters worse, many other studios such as Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Buena Vista are looking at there approach to the release of UMD’s and have recently reduced release schedules.

Paramount spokeswoman Brenda Ciccone said: “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.

“Our focus right now is much more aimed at HD at the moment, though.”

With the need for the PSP to able to connect to a TV for a UMD purchase to make sense, I think that the UMD craze is bound to stay stagnant.  Purchasing the Special Edition DVD, and using XVid or PSPVideo 9 to make the movie available on the PSP just makes more sense.
More movie disaster for PSP.

Both Universal & Image Entertainment have announced that they have abandoned the UMD format for future Movie Releases.  Although Sony had hoped that this would be one of the major selling points for the handheld.

One Universal executive told the Hollywood Reporter: “It’s awful. Sales are near zilch. It’s another Sony bomb – like Blu-ray.”

To make matters worse, many other studios such as Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Buena Vista are looking at there approach to the release of UMD’s and have recently reduced release schedules.

Paramount spokeswoman Brenda Ciccone said: “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.

“Our focus right now is much more aimed at HD at the moment, though.”

With the need for the PSP to able to connect to a TV for a UMD purchase to make sense, I think that the UMD craze is bound to stay stagnant.  Purchasing the Special Edition DVD, and using XVid or PSPVideo 9 to make the movie available on the PSP just makes more sense.