Re-purchase your UMDs at discount for PlayStation Vita
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan reveals new plan.
October 11, 2011 / 07:50 AM EDT / (@salromano)

Back in September, Sony said it was looking into UMD backwards-compatibility for PSP UMDs on PlayStation Vita. The latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation shed new light on their plan.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan is considering a plan where PSP owners can re-purchase their UMD games as a downloadable title at a discount.

The magazine does not mention the size of the discount, or whether this is a Japan-exclusive offer.

PlayStation Vita will launch in Japan on December 17.

Thanks, Siliconera.

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  • FaithlessMr

    …

    Sorry Sony, not gonna happen. At least not for me. I ain’t gonna rebuy my games. Well, looks like I’ll get to keep my psp, and I’ll wait for some vita redesign or until they actually reconsider this and give us a better solution for this problem which doesn’t end up hurting the consumer in the end.

    • http://www.youtube.com/tezchi TezChi

      @FaithlessMr: Agreed, even though I will be buying a Vita at launch. I will not pay money for games I already own, especially if they are anything over a couple of £.

      • FaithlessMr

        @TezChi:
        Yeah, nothing has been said about the price just yet, so hopefully it won’t be a hefty price. Anything above 2eur imo is expensive. Imagine having to pay that much for every single game you have…at the end of the day, that would be quite expensive anyway.

        • Devoted

          @FaithlessMr: I think it’ll all depend on what will be the “normal” cost of a PSP game on the PSN after Vita’s launch. But I’d say we should around 5€ per game (75% off a 20€ game) would be “acceptable” even though I’d suspect Sony will go for a 50% discount.

          Again, this is all futurology, and it’s not a “main issue”, for me at least. I think that if retrocomp is the main reason why someone buys a console (specially one that’s contemporary with it’s direct predecessor), they’re better off buying the previous console (not saying this about you, Faithy :p, but regarding consumers in general)

          After all, we’re not asking for discounts buying PSN versions of PS1 games we already own… are we?:p

          • FaithlessMr

            @Devoted:
            It’s entirely different dude. I was discussing this with someone else who also brought up the ps1 classics argument.

            It’s retrocompatibility vs Digital distribution. They’re different things. Have you ever purchased any ps1 games on PSN that you already have, on disc, which still run perfectly on your trey? I guess you haven’t :P (well I did purchase all of the FF games out of sheer fanboyism but that’s a whole different reason).

            Again, some may be okay with this, but at the end of the day as a consumer I can’t help but feel we’re being shafted, and I can’t simply say “Good job Sony, I love giving you more money for games I already bought!”.

            It’s the more reasons for me to keep mah psp and wait for the Vita to drop the price, and get some more games which I’d actually want. It’s nice that the new games are actually gonna be selling for a nice price (I’m talking new Vita games), instead of going for the mandatory “new games on a new system, let’s take up the price a notch” pricing system.

    • http://xcite79.1up.com Keegs79

      @FaithlessMr: People are lucky they are even getting this option. It should have been an option more so with the PSPGo which was essentially the same handheld just download only. The Vita as a true successor to the PSP doesn’t warrant any solution for UMDs. It is a completely new system. I think what Sony is doing is a nice gesture but at the same time push people to move on to the Vita.

      • FaithlessMr

        @Keegs79:
        At the end of the day, this isn’t something I’d ever loose sleep with; but as a consumer, I can’t simply tell you I’m happy having to pay again for something I already have.

        Anyway, I’ll just get to keep my psp for longer. I can’t tell you I’m not disappointed in Sony about this though.

  • IsleyOfTheNorth

    Unless its like, 1 euro a game, fuck you Sony.

  • Genesis

    I am buying a Vita day one…But, I do not support this cause and I will not re-buy games that I already own on the PSP. If I want to play my older UMD’s, I’ll just pull out the PSP

  • AuroraXIII

    To Sony’s credit, at least they are doing something to compensate. Unlike when they promised this for PSP go owners.

    I’m all ears for a better solution that actually works without allowing consumers to leech free PSP games from Publishers when they don’t even have proof of ownership.

  • Devoted

    Now, everybody, seriously. What would they do?

    The only other feasible option would be giving our UMDs in exchange for vouchers or whatever, and most of us would not like to lose them.

    Anyone really thought that they’d make an add-on drive or allow you to “transfer” your games to the Vita (this one would be a technical nightmare, I suppose)?

    An add-on drive for playing the games would pretty much be the same as having to carry a PSP around, in the sense that it would make you carry an additional, potentially bulky, item.

    I kinda always felt that if they found a “solution” there would have to be costs involved, even if just to prevent people from joining up collections to get free games (in the scenario where you’d just have to show the games to get vouchers or whatever). Now, even if people do this, they’ll still have to pay something.

    I’m not saying I’m happy with this, but I think we should all try to see this from different angles. We’d not be re-purchasing our UMDs, we’d be buying vita-compatible psp game at a discount.

    If anything, this’ll be like the PS1/PS2 Classics thingie: those who have them and their original systems can play them there, those who have them but prefer using one device to play them can do so, with the added bonus of a “discount”.

    Things I’m curious to see:
    1) if this’ll go forward or not, since they say they’re “considering it”
    2) What kind of discount are we talking about here… 50%?75%?20%?
    3) How will Sony “check” that you have the games?

    If anyone has a better solution… by all means, I’m all ears (or eyes, since it’s the internet :P)

    Cheers

    • RedWolfe

      @Devoted: Well said. Of course nobody wants to have to re-purchase titles they already own but what else can they really do?

    • hush404

      @Devoted: Thank you. One person, at least, can see this without blowing their heads off. It’s something I’ll be watching. There are some PSP games that I’d love to be able to have on my Vita and enjoy the remapping of controls /w a second analogue stick… but it’ll all come down to price and how they’re going to be able to tell whom owns what.

      I’m hoping a hefty discount is applied… as I’m not paying $20 for digital copies of my UMDs. I was wondering if perhaps an app made for the PSP would allow them to scan to see a physical UMD in the drive and then report back to PSN to tell em which one it is… hell, they could even run the app remotely on PSN to avoid hacking and misuse of the tool if such a thing could happen. I really don’t know the tech involved in such an idea… but it’d be kewl. That way it’d just credit the game to your PSN account and then you could download your copy from there.

      • Devoted

        @hush404: The only possible shortcoming I see with the “UMD Check” approach is that each UMD (as in, each copy of each game) would have to already have in-disk a unique serial number or identifier,that way the app, server/psn side, could mark that unique copy as “redeemed”, so they could avoid game borrowing for free downloads. Still, I think they’d charge something per game for server costs or whatever, after all.

        I personally think that, depending on prices and discounts, when I get the Vita (be it first gen or redesigned version) I’ll probably get a few PSP games there, if I still want to play them… we’ll see how this goes but… there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Until then, my Crisis Core PSP still has a few games I want to play on it :p

        • hush404

          @Devoted: Speaking of Crisis Core… that’s a UMD only title, no? I would love to see that on my Vita (when I get one :P). I get what you’re poking at though, the PSP isn’t a dead system just because the Vita comes out – I plan on keeping my two PSPs (my original had it’s UMD drive die)… so it’s not like I’ll be loosing those UMD titles… but there are some (like CC) where I’d love to have them on the Vita as well.

    • bs3311

      @FaithlessMr: I understand and agree, @Devoted: Agreed. even though most people hate this, it doesn’t mostly matter to me since I have a psp 3000 (mystic silver KHBBS US model) that has a huge problem with reading umds. And I only have 7 UMD games, (if the each game would cost me $5, that would be 35$ in total ignoring tax) if all my umd games are able to use the 2nd analog and the graphics would be upgraded even a little bit then that’s a bigger plus. I know that my statement is somewhat irrelevant since there are people that invest deeply on the psp.

  • TalesOf_STI

    YEAH! SCREW YOU SONY FOR YOUR COOL GADGETS AND FOR GIVING US BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITIES AND THEN TAKING THEM AWAY .. WAHHH *rolls eyes* .. you want to play psp games.. use your psp.. the console is more then likely going to fade out like ps1/2 … sony should have never offered backwards compatabilities to the ps2.. they set there standards so high that they’ll never be able to satisfy the greed of consumers.. i just rambling.. lol .. in my case I just don’t play many older titles.. I remember when Xenogears came out on psn.. I jumped to buy it.. but I haven’t even played it.. waste of money.. I look at Vita and all the titles being announce and i’m excited about it.. the pro’s out way the con’s IMO so i’m loving it. :P

  • Sal Romano

    Hey guys. PSPs play PSP games.

  • Devoted

    @FaithlessMr: I think the “only” difference is that the age gap from the ps1 to the ps3 is much much larger, therefore people rather buy the games outright on PSN instead of “deal hunting” for ps1 discs.

    You said something that made me think about a new “aspect” of this, when you mentioned “retrocompatibility vs Digital distribution”. And yeah, they’re different things.

    The Vita has no “physical” retrocompatibility whatsoever with the PSP, and we could argue that it’s simply compatible with PSN games, including PSP ones. So, under that prism, what Sony is doing is pretty much “giving something extra” to those who already had those games.

    Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d rather not have to pay to play those games I already have on a new system. But I bought them for different system. It’s not like they’re two different things, system and games go hand-in-hand, and we buy one for/because of the other.

    To sum it all up, I don’t think the Vita’s retrocompatible, but through emulation it can run games that are on the PSN. Under “normal” circumstances we’d have to pay full price for the game, this way, if we want to, we won’t need to.

    Also, we as gamers have had a looong history of retrocompatibility and I think (even though I say this without true knowledge about it) that retrocompatibility used to be easier to implement due to the simpler nature of console arquitecture, aided by cartidrage adaptors or using the same formats throughout different console generations.
    Putting a gamecart in my new console is *very* different than making a “digital” copy from my physical disc, in terms of risks for Sony, Nintendo, etc.

    I really believe it’s not that simple anymore, hardware, software and -obviously- sales wise. Companies exist to make money, and while it saddens me that retrocompatibility is “fading”, I really think we must also wrap our minds around everything else that has changed.

    All in all, it’s not the end of world, like our single-player RPGs are being invaded with multplayer components… *looks at ME3 news*… oh shit.

    ;-)

    Stay safe, Y’all

  • HanPaul

    At the end of the day, Sony would rather have more money than figure out a workaround that benefits the consumer.
    Thanks, but I’ll be keeping my PSPs.

  • Pirate King

    Ill wait for a SOLUTION. THIS is not a solution.

  • FinalFantasy_fangirl

    I dont see Sony doing this type of plan outside of japan. I would personally love it if Sony would just create a device to play umds if they created a device to transfer umds to vita then that would be device that only be used once I dont see them doing that but I could be wrong. Since I will be getting a Vita soon as the japanese vita games hit u.s. soil, I buy psp games on amazon.

  • TalesOf_STI

    (SARCASTICALLY) UGhhh!! ill wait till sony makes a device that plays any and all media/games in existence… but it better be 150$ .. cuz anything above that is absurd and a total scam to make money.. (end)

    just out of curiosity.. those who are complaining.. how old are you and what do you do for a living? some of you ppl complaining even sound like the whiners that are PRO jailbreaking a PS3 because “It’s mine and i can do what i want with it including ripping off games.. screw sony and developers/publishers .. 60 dollars is too much money..” types.. i wonder if you guys have automobiles.. do you complain about gas prices like this? thats something probably worth complaining about..

    wahhh i want a modern car that goes fast but doesn’t use 92 octane and gets 60mpg.. if not then ill walk .. start your own company and see how hard it is to make profit in these times.. yes most of these companies aren’t american.. but business is business.. go make a lemonade stand.. sell 1 glass for 1 dollar.. but next time customer comes over and says.. but hey.. i already bought a glass before.. i think i deserve another one because i had that before and already paid for it.. see how much profit you make.