Two weeks after revealing that Vita owners outside of Japan will not be able to convert their PSP UMD game collection into digital versions playable on Sony’s new handheld, the company has provided an explanation for why it made that decision. It isn’t particularly unreasonable, though it probably won’t be of much consolation to those with extensive UMD collections who want access to those games on their shiny new Vita.
Sony’s head of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, said he was sorry the United States would not see the program in an interview with Wired. Noting he is not the one who could make the decision one way or the other, he outlined two reasons why Sony is keeping the UMD Passport program Japan-only: demand and price.
