UMD Movies Hit A Block News

Variety has today cast concerning news for the PSPs continued aspirations, suggesting that movie studios will begin to scale back UMD Movie production based upon faltering sales.

The article claims that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video will all cut back on releases for the PSP, amidst suggestions that comedies are the only genre to succeed, shifting close to 100,000 compared to an average of just 40,000-50,000 units across North America.

TVG along with many voiced concern over the general validity of UMD Movies in the past, and it does seem that Sony will address the issue of forking out so much for such a luxury. Most prominent is the promise of a TV adaptor, allowing PSP owners to hook the handheld unit up and watch UMDs on the big screen. Sony Pictures has also recently confirmed the intention to release reasonably priced UMD/DVD combo packs as a means to boost flagging back-catalogue sales, whilst the electronics giant will shortly introduce downloadable movies via its Connect digital media store, which can be downloaded and stored on Memory Sticks - let's just hope they continue to increase the size and lower the price of these.

With next-generation DVD formats set to hit the market soon UMD Movies are also facing a threat for retailer shelf-space, with concerns that the "nominal" impact and insignificant growth will force the handheld format out.

The issues ultimately beg the questions, particularly with blu-ray and HD-DVD on the way, how many formats do we need to watch the same movie and how long can movie companies squeeze consumers until finally embracing digital download services?