PlayStation Vita UMD Passport program scrapped in North America

In Japan, Sony introduced the “UMD Passport” program alongside the launch with the PlayStation Vita. The program allowed gamers to register their PSP games on PSN, and then download their games to their PS Vita for a fee.

It was assumed that Sony would be possibly do something similar in other regions, but Sony recently confirmed to Kotaku that there will not be a North American version of the UMD Passport program.

Shortly after Kotaku ran their story, Sony issued an official statement confirming the report, saying:

“SCEA will not be offering the UMD Passport program. U.S. consumers who already own digital versions of select PSP titles will be able to seamlessly transfer those games to their PS Vita system. What’s great for PS Vita owners is that they can enjoy PSP games with upscaled video quality that’s ideal for the system’s 5-inch OLED screen, along with controls that are optimized for its features such as the dual analog sticks. More than 250 PSP titles (including minis) will be available at the launch of PS Vita, and hundreds of additional titles will be available post-launch.”

We know that Sony won’t be introducing a UMD Passport program in North America, but the company didn’t say why the program would be a no-show. The program got some heat for being a little more pricey than some would like, but it was fairly convenient and still less expensive than buying a new copy of the game in most cases.

The PlayStation Vita launches in North America on February 22.

via Giant Bomb