The firm says they have already learned from their PSP experience, and a hybrid approach is needed to offer more flexibility to consumers and distributors alike.

Speaking recently with MCV, SCEE boss Andrew House said that hybrid distribution is the way to go for their upcoming Next Generation Portable.

"You have maximum flexibility," he said. "It gives a great opportunity for retailers to continue to be an active part in the business. But at the same time, it gives the consumer the flexibility of digital access to content.

"I also think publishers will start to look at distribution methods depending on the size of content. Clearly if you have big blockbuster games, then downloading them is perhaps not the best experience.

"One thing we learnt from PSP, is that we want to have simultaneous delivery in digital and physical for NGP. Just to clarify that, all games that appear physically will be made available digitally," he continued. "Not necessarily all games have to be made available physically. And having the option of a digital-only method affords more creative risk-taking, and that’s because you don’t-have that in-built risk of physical inventory.

"What I’d like to see is a hierarchy of different games of different sizes. So at the high-end you’ve got these big, premium games, which by and large will be available physically because that is the most convenient way to access them. And then there’s an opportunity for digital-only, where we might see more experimentation."

And speaking of convenient, House explained that they have to ditched the UMD in favor of Flash cards for NGP because of efficiency and flexibility.

"One is efficiency from a power consumption stand-point. Secondly, it was a result of not having a disc drive built-in, which has the benefits of reducing the bulk and weight of the system.

"It is also a matter of having flexibility in terms of storage capacity. When you are committed to a disc format you have a one-size-fits-all solution for the platform’s lifecycle."

Via [MCV]

Tweet

80% of voters think this story ROCKS!

Vote Now!    (4) (1)