UMD Passport Program for Vita Staying in Japan

Were you one of the PlayStation Portable owners who were wondering, “What do I do with my PSP games?” when Sony announced that the Vita would lack a UMD drive? If you are, you may be a bit saddened that Sony’s UMD Passport program isn’t coming to North America.

In a statement released to Giant Bomb, the company stated that the UMD Passport program will be staying in Japan, at least for the time being. The program is geared towards PSP owners who own games on UMD’s that are also available on the PlayStation Network; the owner insets the UMD in their PSP, and starts up a program that verifies that the disc in question hasn’t been registered yet. After the game has been registered, the PlayStation Network account in question will receive an undetermined discount on a digital copy of the game. Currently, the program is only available in Japan, with a launch in other territories not announced.

While the program does have its faults – some games receive lower discounts than others, and the fact that you have to buy the game again is rage-inducing – a small discount is better than no discount at all. This may be enough to convince some players to simply stick with their PSP for a while longer instead of buying a Vita close to launch.

Source: Giant Bomb