Sony Reveals 17.2 Million UMDs Shipped

Author: by David Jenkins, Simon Carless

Sony officials have announced, via a session at the Entertainment Media Expo in Hollywood, that the company has now shipped 17.2 million UMD discs, the proprietary format of the PSP console, worldwide. According to officials, around 9 million of these were PSP games, with the remaining 8.2 million being UMD-based movies and music video content. Third parties have previously referenced encouraging sales for feature films on UMD format, and these figures show what some might consider a surprisingly high manufacturing rate for movies versus games. In fact, according to Sony representatives, the company expects that movies will make up more than 60 percent of UMD sales in the near future, with 130 million UMD sales predicted for 2008. Sony DADC spokesman Bob Hurley commented that the company is manufacturing 200,000 UMDs a day, with future capacity expected to rise to 500,000 per day.