Universal, Paramount end UMD production

Both Universal and Paramount have pulled out of the UMD business, along with Image. According to The Hollywood Reporter, both 20th Century Fox and Buena Vista Home Entertainment are also cutting back production of the PSP-only movie releases.

"No one's watching movies on PSP," said the president of one of the six major studios' home entertainment divisions. "It's a game player, period."

Amidst this bad news come reports that retailing giant Wal-Mart might be considering dropping UMD sales altogether, while the presence of UMD-devoted shelves is also shrinking at other retailers. Several observers seem to feel that part of the problem was the release of too many movies in too short a time frame. By August 2005, a mere five months after the PSP's launch, 239 movie and TV titles already were either in the market or scheduled for release — a significantly higher tally than games, according to the DVD Release Report. Even Sony Pictures head Benjamin Feingold admits they are being "more selective" in the films they are choosing for UMD release.

A high-ranking executive with Universal said, "It's awful. Sales are near zilch. It's another Sony bomb — like Blu-ray."

While it is rather premature to begin declaring the doom of a format that has neither launched nor had any competition make it to market yet, there is hope for the UMD format yet. Next week, SCEA executives are expected to make visits to many of the Hollywood studios to discuss plans for making the PSP able to connect to TV sets.