Sony have been plotting digital PSP for some time

News - UMD-less console always desired

Naoya Matsui, Sony's head of product planning, has told GameBusiness that a UMD free PSP was always part of the firm's plans. Apparently, they were waiting for the digital download market to pick up.

"We'd planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning. But if we'd simply released the hardware, there wouldn't have been much for everyone to enjoy," the exec offers.

"We needed to prepare the right environment for it first - things like the transferal of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as Media Go.

"We wanted to release it when the delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media. That's what we've been working on these past two years. We'll be selling the PSP Go alongside the existing PSP models, because it's a product targeted at those people who are more accustomed to digital content."

PSP Go is out in October across North America and Europe. A Japanese debut will follow in November.