Rumor: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep not releasing on PSN

by David Hinkle on Nov 23rd 2009 9:00PM

There's a rumor circulating around the wild wild web right now that says Square Enix may not be looking to offer Kingdom of Hearts: Birth by Sleep via digital distribution on PSN, possibly adding insult to injury for all PSP Go owners out there. The rumor originated from Twitter user Magunus, who apparently attended a recent PlayStation event in Japan (we can't figure out which event this is referring to, and there's no mention on the official Japanese blog) where a clerk confirmed it, citing "copyright issues."

This strikes us as odd not only because of the tenuous nature by which this has been reported, but because a lot of Disney Interactive's titles have been made available via digital distribution in the past. We've contacted both Square Enix and Disney Interactive about this and will be sure to let you know what we hear back.

[Via Sankaku Complex (site NSFW)]

Source

Tags: disney, disney-interactive-studios, kingdom-hearts, kingdom-hearts-birth-by-sleep, psn, square-enix

Reader Comments (69)

lol go?

Still, I can't wait for the (rumoured?) Disney character costumes for LittleBigPlanet.

Those costumes were confirmed at E3. I asked on the PS Blog last month and they're still on the way, should hear more about the costumes soon they said.

I can sense the cries of many fangirls as we speak.

i love you to

@eat my face

love you to what? THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME.

This will sink the PSP GO dead in the water if they don't fix this.
I bet the marketing guys at Sony are losing hair again.

If this is true... THEN SO HELP ME GOD, I'LL....

That would be very bad for PSP Go owners.

Wow... that's going to be a serious hit to the Go's sales if it's true

you know this gives hackers more reason to release HEN/CFW on the PSPgo

pretty sure the go already has been hacked

it has but the hack hasn't been released for reasons of pirating, and a hack won't be released until a new one shows up from another source

Is GameStop paying devs off to avoid releasing games on PSN or something? This sort of thing makes Sony's attempt at a digital distribution-only system look awful.

Square released Dissidia on PSN for $40 (full price). I don't see any logical reason why a newer title than that wouldn't be released

The article cites (as it's one reason) copyright issues. If that's true (huge grain of salt here), Dissidia wouldn't fall into that - as everything used in it is SE's property.

It isn't like the PSP Go is firing on all cylinders anyway - the downloadable content isn't even close to emulating the PSP's full UMD library. Most of the recent releases are there - but the back titles - forget about it.

My heart stopped because i saw kingdom hearts and Not together i got scared that it wasnt gonna be on PSP then i noticed it said PSN so i laughed :D

saying sankaku complex is NSFW is an understatement. i've been there a couple times before, and dang.

Holy balls. You ain't kiddin'. How is it that THAT site scooped this!?

mayeb cuz it focus on japan realted news mainly, and most of his cast are from japan.

Just because they're weeaboo/otaku/whatever perverts doesn't mean they can't be decent journalists. They're a hell of a lot better than anyone on Kotaku, that's for sure.

i didn't say they aren't. they're just REALLY perverted is all.

Yeah, they are pretty damn good journalists but...goddamn!

Any reason to not buy a regular PSP instead (besides the lack of
internal memory)?

sexiness, bluetooth, and maybe the more vibrant screen.

You also don't get to waste your money, which I've heard is extremely fun.

Well, if you're an 'image conscious' gamer...you know, the whole million people who bought a GB Micro...

Alright then, how about buying both a PSP Go AND a PSP 3000?
The Go does come with exclusives, right?

"The Go does come with exclusives, right?"

Nope. All digital distributed content can be played on a regular PSP so long as you have a memory stick inside.

Unlike the DSi, there's no PSPgo-only software.

Why buy a Go? Until the cost comes down, way down - it's not worth it. Not when you get the back catalog of PSP games to choose from on UMD and there are some really great titles out there for pretty cheap now on UMD!!!

You also get the same PSN store, can get the same amount of memory (16G) on a standard PSP, bigger screen...and besides you can link up to 5 units to your account - so buy a used (or new) 3000 (or 2000) and later if you get a Go, you'll be able to link and get all of the content you purchased on PSN on your new Go.

When the Go cracks $150CN I'll pick one up, I mean...I paid that for my MICRO (Brad!), and hey - don't knock the micro - it's an awesome little GBA machine. :)

and on topic - no way this will miss a PSN release. You think those fiat chasing fools in suits are going to let this haul out of their net? Get it...I said 'net'. hu-hu. hu-hu-hu.

Well if this proves to be true, it would suck.

Well actually I doubt this guy know what he's talking about, unless you speak box. So I'm not worried.

フォローありがとです～～こちらもフォローしますね(｀・ω・´)

フォローありがとです～～こち?

Me either.

I have a PSP 3000 and I refuse to buy UMD's. I bought the system because it was portable. Lugging around a case full of those dumbass disks does not promote portability. (especially when I bought a 16GB ProDuo Stick.)

You are an idiot
UMDs arent that big, gameboy carts, tapes, cds and many other things we lugged around are bigger

UMDs are perfectly portable

I agree, carrying around discs rattling around in your pocket isn't very portable. I can see if your carrying it around in a backpack that's fine, but the psp 3000 just fits in your pockets as is. Start adding memory sticks and umd's, and the portability factor cuts down significantly. I have 5 PS1 games and 4UMD games on my psp's memory. I wouldn't go back to carrying around the discs.

You know, when Sony was developing the Go, they should have considered future copyright issues with some games, including popular franchises. But hey, the money comes first, right?

For some reason, I'm okay with this.

Sometimes I really don't know why Sony went with the Go at all ..... it isn't like its feature rich .... the only thing it brings to the table other than an inability to play existing UMD games is bluetooth ....... for which so far the single most redeeming use has been "you can use it with your 6axis controller" which means its only current redeeming feature if you so choose to call it that, fully negates its only purpose which is to GO .... outside your house.

I'm sure in retrospect 30 years from now people will look at it and say ..... wow that was a console way ahead of its time ...... tho more likley people will look back and say wow .... that was sonys virtual boy ..... mind you with 98% less eye burning, but still.

Then again at least the virtual boy brought something interesting and innovative to the table, even if it had some issues with eye burn.

For the record I have a VB and I love the system it was a cool system, I was just using it because its widely perceived as a horrible failure. But it was an interesting and wonderful horrible failure, Unlike the Go.....

I can say resoundingly that I will not touch a PSPGO with a 100ft pole

Virtual Boy goes with the SegaCD under the 'notable failure' category. The technology just wasn't ready for primetime yet.

There's a couple of good reasons why the Go exists. One, the PSP Go is their crash course in digital distribution. Everyone's talking about how this is the direction the industry is heading, so regardless of how publishers feel about, they'll have to give in eventually. I hope it fails in a way that the console manufacturers won't be dependent on DD too soon.

Second, it buys them more time to prep the PSP2. Nintendo went through a few designs of their handhelds before the new ones hit. The Go reminds me a lot of the GBA Micro. Why the hell would i buy a micro if i already have a perfectly function GBA SP (let alone the DS having the nearly the same functionality at the time)? It gives them more time without investing tons of money into something that might fail. I doubt they're losing money on each unit sold, so it's not a total failure. I'm betting Nintendo invested way more in the Virtual Boy and will have sold less than the PSP Go will.

One big flaw with the GBA or even the DS comparisons ....

lol from that downvote I can see people are afraid of a good dose of cold hard reality.

Yeah there really wasn't any big reason to say buy a GBA Micro if you had perfectly good working GBA ........ here comes that pivotal flaw ..... the GBA Micro still played all your GBA games from your extensive GBA collection.

Looking at the PSP and the PSP Go .... there is still no reason to go out and get a GO if you have a PSP but if you chose to do so the GO will NOT play any of your existing UMD collection. It doesn't even deliver on the improved battery life that everyone mused over that getting rid of the battery sucking UMD should deliver.

Add to that if this pans out .... not only can't you play your old games but it looks like the future of playing new games on it is in serious question... and if sony thought they had a pirating problem before ..... wait till people start to rationalize the fact that "well I can't even get this game for my system so ...."

On a semi-related note, PSP 3000's will be $139 @ Meijers this week. Too bad I no longer live in MI (only for this reason) or have the extra cash.

I'm sure all three Go owners will be very disappointed.

that sucks for UMD users, but seriously, how many people actually owns a go? And how many of these guys already own a psp? Most likely, ppl interested in birth by sleep bought a psp before because of games like war of the lions, dissidia, crisis core, etc. So not a big problem for most KH fans out there, I'm sure.

Good Riddance. the Go was a dumb idea anyway.

that said, had they released it with a full library of all the games they had already put out for the PSP and allowed you to convert your currently owned UMD titles to digital files (instead of that worthless exchange they did), i might be of a different opinion. for now, i just laugh at those that bought the Go who will be left wanting while I'm playing BBS.

By the way, that NSWF warning next to the source site is not a joke.

I was just there.

...now I'm going back.

I want to check it out, but I'm at work :(

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Rumor: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep not releasing on PSN

Reader Comments (69)

Posted: Nov 23rd 2009 9:02PM BrianH said

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