Publishers Show Limited Support for UMD Passport Vita Program

The Japanese division of Sony Computer Entertainment has announced the lists of video games that can be moved to the PlayStation Vita handheld using the new UMD Passport program, showing that a limited number of publishers are interested in supporting the program.

There are 262 video games included in the current list of games that will use the UMD Passport initiative, including titles from Atlus, Acquire, Tecmo Koei, SNK Playmore, Cyberfront and Nippon Ichi.

There are more than 600 video games that players can now download from the Japanese PlayStation Store.

The lists of publishers who are not supporting the UMD Passport program at launch include the likes of Square Enix, Konami, Capcom and Namco Bandai.

These Japanese companies have delivered some of the most important and popular video games for the PlayStation Portable, which means that those who plan to make the switch to the Vita might miss out on a lot of their library.

One of the biggest blows for gamers in Japan is that their bellowed Monster Hunter, maybe the most important game on the PSP, will apparently not make the switch.

Sony has not said whether it is still talking to some publishers and will add them to the UMD Passport program at a later date.

The company has also not made it official that Western markets will get a similar compatibility program but it’s likely that something similar will be announced closer to the February launch dates for Europe and the United States.

The UMD Passport allows gamers to pay in order to move titles they already own from the normal PSP to the Vita while keeping their saves and extra content.

The publishers who have so far not signed up for the program probably plan to release new games in their franchises for the Vita or even deliver remakes and would like to have as big as possible an audience for them.