Yes, it’s true. For better or worse, Patapon 2 has officially turned into a PSN-only downloadable title for the North American market, with Sony America nixing the UMD release. The game will still be sold in stores, but inside the box you’ll simply get a PSN voucher instead of the game on a UMD. The boxed vouchers go on sale May 5th, with the full PSN launch set for the May 7th PlayStation Store update.
Could this be an experiment to test the viability of the rumored UMD-less, download-only PSP? I doubt it, but you never know…
Pata-post Friday Presents: Rumors are True! Patapon 2 is Going Digital! [PlayStation.Blog]
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
“The boxed vouchers go on sale May 5th, with the full PSN launch set for the May 7th PlayStation Store update.”
I hadn’t seen that part – does that impact availability in any way, I wonder?
I think it is just a ‘trial balloon’ to see how it all works out.
It just has to do with Sony’s set-in-stone PlayStation Store schedule. For whatever reason Sony only updates PSN content on Thursdays. So if you buy a voucher I imagine you’ll be able to access it Tuesday, it just won’t show up in the online storefront until Thursday.
It’s been similar with Sony’s dual retail/PSN PS3 titles like Warhawk and SOCOM: Confrontation. The retail versions launched early and the PSN versions came two days later.