Sony PSP Movie Sales Strong

By Richard Menta 5/25/05

Two weeks ago when I reviewed the Sony PSP for its movie and music prowess I was stunned by the clarity of Spider-Man 2 as I viewed it on that unit's small, but sharp, widescreen display. The movie was delivered on Sony's Universal Media Disc (UMD), a new proprietary format that in several weeks Sony put into the hands of 1.2 million users. I said this in the review:

If UMD proves to be a smash hit one area it can affect is the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD battle going on it Hollywood right now as it would force the studios to commit resources to the smaller UMD format while they hedge on the two larger formats…if UMD movie and album sales achieve Sony's wildest dreams as a market force it will increase the risk of success for all later formats and delivery schemes.

Well, the numbers are starting to come in on UMD movie sales and the results are excellent.

Since the introduction of the PSP two Sony titles have hit the 100,000 mark in unit sales, Resident Evil 2 and House of the Flying Daggers. Both titles shipped on April 19th, hitting these marks within a month of release. All other titles are also selling well.

Hollywood has taken notice on these numbers and are all jumping in with titles that they feel will best play to the PSP's target audience. The only studio sitting out right now is Warner Brothers, whose competing mini-DVD technology has already been dropped by Paramount and Universal who previously agreed to support the mini-DVD format.

Hollywood does not want to get into any more of these format wars. We see what it is doing to the music industry with the Apple iTunes AAC codec versus Microsoft's WMA codec (with and without Janus technology) versus Sony Connect's ATRAC3 codec. Songs purchased on iTunes will not play on anything but an iPod, Connect tunes are limited to Sony players, etc.

Of course the MP3 codec is the only true standard, but the record companies refuse to acknowledge its existence because it does not contain Digital Rights Management (DRM) capabilities (no DRM is also what gives the MP3 format a competitive advantage).

The UMD's success will also affect Apple's plans to move into video media delivery. Despite continued denials by the company, many expect an iPod Video to appear in time for the Christmas holidays. Apple likes to impose its own standards and should an iPod video appear, the PSP/UMD success will pose a problem. This is true even if Apple decides online delivery of movies and TV shows are the way to go.

Right now there are over 70 titles available on UMD with hundreds more coming this fall as the studios rush to serve this new market. Paramount's Viacom buddies, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and MTV are also jumping on the UMD bandwagon announcing the release of several popular programs including Chappelle's Show and SpongeBob.

Should UMD titles line the retail racks this Christmas, there will be less room in stores to devote to other formats like Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Unless manufacturers can put a few million of these devices in the hands of consumers, the media industries have less incentive to print movies in yet another standard.