UMD games may be cheaper than digital

PSN man Eric Lempel has said Sony hopes to avoid situations where digital copies of PSP games cost more than they do on UMD, but the company can't control what happens with third-party titles.

"Well, we don't actually control pricing, so we can sell to retail at a wholesale price and then they set the resale price. On the PlayStation Store we do set the pricing for first-party titles, but on third-party they give us a wholesale price," Lempel, who is PSN operations director, told IndustryGamers.

"On games where we do control pricing, what we'll steer towards is having it cost the same; it won't cost more [online or off] for the launch of a new title."

At the moment, PSP games launching on the PlayStation Store at the same time as UMD often cost more to download than to buy from retailers like Amazon and Play. Recent examples include Patapon 2 and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

Once PSPgo launches on 1st October, Sony plans to make every new PSP release available digitally and on UMD from the same date, and having to pay more for digital titles on the digital-only PSPgo is unlikely to impress consumers already a bit concerned about the GBP 250 price tag.