Sony Pondering Downloadable Game Rental Service For the PSP

Joystiq has brought attention to a recent survey commissioned by Sony to gauge interest in a rental service for PSP games that would operate by downloading the games to the console. The plan, as Sony puts it, "will enable you to download a fixed number of games during your subscription period ... you will be able to change the games you have chosen for the download once your subscription term renews." The survey goes on to gather opinions on various details such as pricing, the number of available games, and how games are added to the catalogue.

Comments

Re:DRM?

[Sockatume]

DRM is the technology that allows the rental to operate, or rather, to not operate when it's not meant to. They are the same thing at the end of the day. What's "new" is that it's probably the first time a major games company has gone with download-rentals. There's been talk of it for ages but the closest I'd seen so far was one-day game licences for N-Gage Service titles.

Re:Emotional bonding?

[Sockatume]

Demos. Few companies will be willing to dig out and rewrite their old demos for MGS or whatever for download, whereas a one-day rental just requires the company approves the title for rental purchases with Sony. It's something that's more common in mobile phone gaming - the N-Gage service has mandatory demos, but they're usually very short, so £1-£2 for a 24-hour "pass" is a better taste of the title. And in the case of short, not-very-replayable games like MGS-Mobile, it saves you spending £8 on a title you'll clear in a lunch break.