According to the latest NPD group report, during the month of December Blu-ray players held 60 percent of the HD media player market -- despite the fact that HD DVD players were considerably cheaper. While that might've
helped Warner in its decision to go Blu, the move has definitely had a dramatic effect on player sales since. According to the same study the week after
the announcement, Blu-ray players were able to grab 93 percent of the market, which puts the year to date (short, we know) share for Blu-ray players at 70 percent. Granted, it's hard to put too much stock in just a week or two of data, but if this and the
recent media sales numbers (85 percent) becomes a trend, maybe this won't be such
a slow death for HD DVD after all.
[Via
Blu-ray.com]
posted Jan 22nd 2008 1:03PM
"Sinai, that's why I was hoping HD-DVD would win. It wasn't created by a company that also has its own movie studio."
Totally wrong. Toshiba up until less than a year ago when they sold it DID own their own movie studio in Japan. They distributed US films like Riddick, Band of Brothers, Equilibrium and more.
And Microsoft is looking to buy Universal from GE as we speak.
And for those on the "cheap" train, Toshiba is selling HD DVD players at a $100+ loss, which at a nickle a disc (and that's being incredibly generous) worth of royalties will require over 2000 HD DVDs sold, MINIMUM to make back that investment. Keep in mind, they've taken this hit on EVERY player they've sold since the beginning (Their loss has been as high as $200 a player).
Playstation, before anyone brings it up, makes $8-10 a game in royalties, requiring a far more realistic return rate.
Meanwhile, Blu-ray decks are higher, or in actuallity, realistically priced. The retailer makes a profit, the manufacturer makes a profit. HD DVD player margins per dollar are less than half of what the retailers make on Blu.
"If these numbers are based on PS3's, how many kids will purchase a blueray movie versus a game"
PS3, nor the 360 addon are included in these figures.
And anyone who thinks that the CEs aren't racing for that magic $199 mark as fast as is practical is insane. They want fast, mass market adoption because they make at best $5 a DVD player, and the studios want it because they want a format whose copy protection isn't cracked wide open. Both sides like Disney (huge investment in Blu promotion in advertising), Fox (spent tens of millions financing the creation of BD+), Panasonic (owns more Blu-ray patents than anyone, including Sony), and the retailers (because they'll move a ton more players). More players=more discs sold= lower software prices.
The Blu-Ray has been getting both positive and negative reviews, people who have purchased say that while the quality of picture is great and is easy to set up and use, the cons are that it’s slow to power up and there’s no memory. Here are reviews left by people who are verified to have purchased it:
http://www.buzzillions.com/prd-260217-sony-blu-ray-disc-player-reviews/
One guy said “Great design gives it a sleek look. When turning it on, it takes longer than a minute for the tray to open up. I have heard this before so it may be common for these types of DVDs. With the HDMI connection, the picture is very sharp! I definitely noticed a difference in DVDs to HD Blue Rays.
Disadvantage on all HDMI connection is that you don’t get closed captions signal through it. If the DVD doesn’t have subtitles, then you need to use a different connection and the quality reduces, big time.
The manual section on hook-up is confusing a little on the variety of choices. HDMI is too simple and yet the manual shows to many wires with options that won’t make sense to some users. You need to figure out the settings if you want PCM audio, mix-down, etc. You need to know which quality is better.
First couple of days on using it, it locked up once watching a movie. I had to unplugged it from the back to restart it. It could be a dirty DVD but it hasn’t happened again.
My biggest peeve is when you turn off the DVD and want to continue watching where you left off next time, you at the beginning of the DVD again.
Not so sure about improvement on audio quality because I can’t imagine audio sounding better than regular DVDs.”
First off I don't have a personal preference regarding blue ray or HD DVD.
Now that being said BuzzillionsEmma tell that guy to buy a better blue ray than the cheapest one available because all the things he was complaining about are the player’s quality than it is the format.
Looking at some stats and seeing that 40% or more of the nation still don't own a HD TV so close to the dead line of 2009 I am sure the battle will not be over until the rest of the wall mart nation goes shopping for the new HDTV and find out that HDTV is so much cheaper.
Having over 7 years in the High end Audio and Video retail experience tells me that so far we are just comparing stats of the first phase buyers or the so called (early adopters) just like the guys that spent over 2k on Mitsubishi VHS players back in 1980.
Who cares, in a couple years we will all be downloading movies to our TIVO/DVR or external Hard-drive hooked up to our TV. DVD, HD or Blue-Ray will go the way of the CD-ROM.
This is the part that the news media keeps forgetting to report. Between Universals and Paramounts Catalouge of total movies (were talking the movie theater 35mm's here), they own 46% of the possible available titles out there. Yes, BR has the majority of studio's, but when you look at the movies they've put out total over the years, 54%vs46% evens out the race a little. And it becomes a little more interesting when you factor in the fact that, although some studios in the North American market are BR exclusive, by doing a simple google search, you can get those same studio movies in HDDVD from the European market (HDDVD being region free). I used this information and the fact that the player was only $140 with 7 free movies (Amazon) to buy the HDdvd player this week. Let use suppose that 6 months to a year from now, Toshiba decides to fold it in, The movies I've got are still good, and I'm only out $140. Until October of this year, anyone buying a BR player will not have the latest hardware version and will be getting screwed by Sony (won't run the new features coming out - this is NOT a firmware upgradable issue as stated by Sony last week). When the final spec comes out in Oct, then I will look into a BR player (and only if the price comes way down from it's current high point).
Can someone tell me why none of the blue ray players get a good review. They all seem to be junk. The hd dvd players were better, and even a finished product. I have not bought either.
Many have died, but the war is not over.
seriously? really? like, you're really being serious? ok...
its over
If the war's not done yet, at least the major combat operations are certainly over.
Now there's just the insurgency to deal with...
This is a survey of all NPD panelests, well, not all, but a lot. if this was a combined survey, with people like walmart reporting sales, then yeah, we could get a better, more reliable result, kinda. untill HD DVD gets droped by all major studios, its not over. not like i really care, ive still got trusty DVD as my format of choice, my games still fit on one DVD, or most of them do.
I'm not a fanboy at all, of anything, but come on, cut him some slack...
HD still has a chance... they have cheaper players... so what if they don't have any content :-P
LOL!
Almost ironic.... PS3 - more expensive - no games... 360 - not as expensive - tons of games... blu-ray - more expensive - lots of content... HD-dvd - not as expensive - no content...
At least Sony got one thing right I suppose.
The surge it be working
@ Luke
because the add-on is 179 (or was? whats it at now if i'm wrong)
i own an xbox 360 and had to send it in when it RROD'ed on me at least a year and a half ago but am content with it
at this point, we're (my family) looking into buying an hdtv and my father wants to get the add-on and a blu ray player, which i refuse to do, since my zune shitted out..my vista laptop had to get sent back for vista problems.. and yeah.
so i for one (haha you thought i was gonna say THAT didn't you!) will be getting a blu ray player before the superbowl, since the giants are in :)
HDDVD was a failure before the first disks were ever released on store shelves. Blu Ray was destined to succeed based on the market penetration of the PS3 and the failure of Microsoft to put an HDDVD player as a standard drive on the 360.
If you don't support something, it topples.
HDDVD is a perfect example of a failure of good reason.
@ Zach
Excellant way to throw in Microsofts other expedentures (failures? yes and no) into a mix about Blu-ray v HD-DVD. Sure the PS3 and 360 compete in that regard. But Vista? The Zune? Really? When was the last time Sony really had a viable media player? Walkman's are dead man. The Zune has Sony beat in that regard, it's a great device.
And Vista...haha. Sure it's not the best, but it adds zero value to your argument. Microsoft didn't create the HD-DVD format, they just back it. And yet, you can still use Blu-ray optical drives on your...gasp...Vista computer.
Here's my thoughts - HDDVD v Blu-ray is still up in the air to me, I need an absolute clear winner before I make a commitment. That's where I stand. DVD is still the most viable format available.
Hey Bobs,
You're not by any chance getting your information from the Iraqi Information Ministry, are ya? I would change channels if I were you.
I supported HD-DVD, I prefer HD-DVD, but It's over. It's more likely that the survey has a 7% inaccuracy.
@ strangebum
right, MICROSOFT backs it, and in MY experience, all i've had were problems (minus xp)
it took 4 months to get my xbox back after sending it in, and imagine you having to send your hd dvd player (which could potentially be made by microsoft) in to get fixed if it dies for any reason?
i love the xbox for its games, but i don't think a video games console will ever replace the dvd/hd dvd/blu ray player for the reasons above
@ Flashpoint: IMHO, it was a straight up poker game. The main reason for HD-DVD's failure is the recent $750 Million outlay by Sony to secure Fox and Warner. Blu-Ray saw this with the $100 million or so that HD spent on Paramount, and check raised way over the top.
The gamble looks like it paid off. Neither sides numbers are in the least bit impressive when compared to the DVD version sales, so from the studio perspective, the guy with the biggest bag o cash is gonna win. NO other combination of factors trumps $500 million dollars up front, despite what fanboys (not accusing you) on either side of the format fence say.
Gaming and storage capacity were negligible factors, given that game studios easily released major game content on both DVD9 (for the 360) and Blu-Ray (PS3), and they're identical experiences.
Zach, Microsoft won't enter the consumer HDDVD player market unless it's in a 360. Don't forget, sony has had their own fair share of completely irrelevant problems. Like Laptop batteries with explosion syndrome and CDs that install rootkits totally silently, and then the program to "fix" the problem is broken. Your arguments are completely irrelevant. Don't forget that Bluray has constantly shifting standards, an area where sony has not had much success since CD. Blu 2 is out this fall, and those discs won't play on blu 1.2 because they have radically different specs. The only upgradable player is the PS3. That's just a confusing mess for consumers. The fight is still likely over, but I don't think either one is clearly better than the other for various reasons.
Alan is right ... its the cash, not the technology or game consoles ... its the money. I consider it a sellout on the studios part, since they sold out the consumers choice. Now the consumer gets to pay for it over a long period of time.
Sony can't slash prices on the player like Toshiba has ... this why we're seeing the "free player" deals when you buy a TV instead of a real price war. You can cut prices but you can't raise them ... and free/rebate deals allow them to entice people without lowering that price bar. They have A LOT of money to make up in sales because of the studio deals. Expect to see protracted disc and player cost for awhile.
I'm even more likely now to become a download fanboy because of this war.
@Zach
I'm a little confused by the ending of your first post.
"so i for one (haha you thought i was gonna say THAT didn't you!) will be getting a blu ray player before the superbowl, since the giants are in :)"
What exactly does a Blu-ray player have to do with the Super Bowl and the Giants? If you have an HDTV you have an HDTV and you can watch the Super Bowl on it. You don't need a Blu-ray player in any way whatsoever.
As I said when Warner announced it: "FATALITY!"
Why would we want this war to continue. Everyone I know says they are not buying into HD movies just because we don't know which way to go. I honestly could care less if it's HD or BR, just as long as one goes away and the other catches on and gets cheaper.
On a sales note, I work at a porn store and we have HDDVD titles and Bluray titles. The shelf is full of HDDVD titles because the BR titles sell out as soon as they get put out. The HD titles, however, just sit there. In my experience, BluRay seems much more popular even though it can be more expensive right now compared to HDDVD.
If I had to choose, I'd say Bluray is the way to go.
We have some titles that are available in both and the Bluray titles have more features and extras because they can fit more on the disks. Take for instance the Title "Debbie Does Dallas...Again" by Vivid. It's available on both formats and looks identical in every way until you look at the extra features listing. The BR copy has multi camera angle selection available whereas the HD does not. This is simply because the BR has the extra space for the extra content, the HD does not.
Bob's, come on dude...it's over homey. Just let it go. The limbs have been chopped! Come back and fight you coward!!!
sorry bro. This war is over...
I hope at least Hd DVD gets a proper funeral. They deserve it. I've had many great nights due to the HD-DVDs.
nothing's over 'till it's over.
another reason HD DVD was a failure was because it was made by microsoft... ok u can't blame an apple/sony fan for misusing his fanboyism.... can u?
the end is inevitable... argh~
I knew blu would win, even tho its not over yet, it will be soon. Who ever thought that a 15gb disk could beat a 25gb disk is mistaken, blu-rays technology is far superior than hd disk. More space on a single disk is gonna open us up to bigger and better applications/ movies/ games. Stop buying the new generation beta max, BRING ME TRANSFORMERS and SHREK TO BLU-RAY!!
While you happened to be correct this time, if you go back through consumer technology history, you will find that the most powerful format often lost. So, whoever thought that a 15GB disk would beat a 25GB disk was basing their presumptions on history, not necessarily fanboyism.
Hoping this will be a call to Toshiba to finally join in the ranks, which will get the HD DVD exclusive titles over to Blu-Ray.
Seriously, it's going to be funny seeing the heads spin around here when Toshiba announces their first BD player. It'll happen, oh you know it will, and it'll be quick. Probably the same day they drop support for HD-DVD.
Companies have no loyalty except to the bottom line. And at some point, Toshiba's going to realize that the only way for them to make money from high definition optical discs is by producing Blu-Ray players.
Only the rabid fanboys on sites like this have loyalty to one format or another.
Please, Toshiba! Give up, announce that you are pulling the plug. (I need to get my copy of Transformers HD-DVD on ebay tonight...)
Seriously once this is over iam buying a ton oh HDDVD movies on the cheap.. i want like $10 for a movie cmon hurryup and discount these movies.
Now this is were the consumer gets a deal.
@Neeko
Nothing like owning a bunch of movies on betamax.
@ Nipponese
Does it really matter? Do you mean to tell me that you honestly plan on repurchasing every DVD in your library to upgrade it to Blu-Ray? I doubt it, you will probably still use your DVD player until Blu-Ray has been in the game for at least a few years.
So if Neeko decides to purchase a bunch of movies on the losing format, the quality is still there, and if he owns an HD-DVD player, why not utilize it until the library of the winner fully encompases all other formats.
I still have my collection of criterion collection laser disks.
@StrangeBum
Your point is completely irrelevant. Of course he will still watch his DVD's because they will play on his blu-ray player! Where is he going to watch his HDDVDs though? My guess is everyones HDDVD players will end up in either their attic or guest room just like their betamax players did.
Or, you know, if you have the money, you can buy both players.. when you get tired of watching the same movies over and over on the looser format, you disassemble the player and make yourself a nice blue laser :-)
These blue pointers sell for about $1000 anyway
I have a Sony VHS player.
There's no reason that we won't see a Toshiba Blu-ray player.
Interesting, but not necessarily accurate, NPD data does not include Wal-Mart ( a big HDDVD retailer) or online sources like amazon.
A toshiba HDDVD player remains in the top 25 on amazons best sellers today, while the first blu ray player comes in at 96.
/just sayin...still think blu-ray will win.
Neither do most of the analysts include PS3 sales which number a measly 3.2 million in the US alone, 2.5 million of which were sold in 2007. 5.6 million worldwide as of Sept 2007, should easily be over 6 million by now...
That would be because a large percentage of PS3 sales are not to people who want to watch Blu Ray movies. If the PS3 was JUST a blu ray player then it could be counted but as it is mainly a games console and media center you cannot count it towards Blu Ray player sales.
Fanbois suck.
I dunno carbonize, for one, I don't think PS3 owners are going to spring for an HDDVD player, unless they're absolutely ballin', so that should be counted in the run. Lots of people use its Blu-Ray compatibility as another reason to purchase, and then go for only Blu-Ray discs.
For an extremely long time, my PS2 was the only DVD player of the household
that said, the numbers ignore too much data to really count for much.
Sorry Carbonize, but I have an Xbox 360 with an HD-DVD drive too. The HD-DVD addon isn't counted by analysts in player sales either.
Fanboi my ass.
So count 50% of them, or even 25% of them. Like or not the PS3 made a big difference in this war. If the PS3 did not include a Blu-Ray player, BR wouldn't have been the clear winner from the start. There's simply more people willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a game console and get a BR player thrown in, than on a box that can only play movies.
so will the 360 hd player be ~40$ and will the PS3 sell more?
More importantly, will Microsoft release a Blu-Ray add on?
Either is fine by me. Just pick one already. But to make an argument size doesn't always matter. hahaha
If you think about is MS might have been smart to have external drive, this way they do not shoot them selves in the foot. Can now make a deal for an external BD one now.
Except that if they had waited on the Xbox 360 and had a built-in drive, almost certainly this discussion would be going the other way. They hedged their bet, they were more interested in having the dominant game console than having backed the winning movie format (which makes plenty of sense) but I would venture that even if they delayed the 360 by a full year, launched with an HD-DVD drive at the same time the PS3 launched with the Blu, that HD-DVD would be the winner in this way (better games would've driven the console adoption the same way it did w/o the drive, and as such there'd be more HD-DVD users regardless of specs).
I agree with Bot. ^
@ HedonismBot: True MS could have gone HD for the 360, but the fact that all the cross platform games come out on both systems shows that a high capacity format wasn't needed for the core business. Delaying the release of the console for a year just for the inclusion of HD-DVD would have made the console war MUCH closer, and this way MS can just release a BR add-on, which seems almost inevitable at this point.
Sure those who bought the HD add-on are kind of cringing, but certainly not as much as those who bought the roughly half of BR players that don't have an ethernet port, and therefore don't meet the BR 2.0 minimum specs.
Luckily I've avoided a bullet. I had the HD-DVD add-on, but sold it and some movies on ebay in early Dec for almost full retail cost (some of the movies were gifts so I come out about even).
I'll wait for a cheap BR player (or a possible BR add-on for the Xbox), and the main reason for that is I refuse to allow a device in my home entertainment/air conditioning/lighting setup that isn't controlled by my Harmony remote.
To quote our fearless, err I mean witless leader... "Mission Accomplished"
Figures like this cannot be ignored.
Yes they can. Just as easily as facts can be ignored by governments and large corporations.
Especially when they're of a week's worth of sales.
still plenty of good laserdiscs on ebay. dirt cheap.
I was wondering if the quality of Laser Disk is better then standard DVD's. Laser was a tad before my time and never saw one's quality.
No, laserdisc is not higher quality than DVD. Laserdisc is an analog format. Later in its life some added digital sound to the analog picture.
Regular DVD is superior to LD in every way. You're not missing anything by never having seen a LD.
all I know about layzah descs is from a movie called SLC punk. "dahz ah moovee on thair!"
poor spelling is used on purpose to emphasize the swedish accent of the character in the movie that says the above line.
It does not matter i just decided. I have a HD-DVD player got a great deal. but i also have time warner HD with a DVR I can add an extra external HD and wait till the movies come out on HBO/Showtime etc. HD and watch. I just watched king kong on my DVR and the picture is awsome I know its 1080i not 1080p and by god i cant see the difference and i get a whole month of HD movies for $10
I think physical media will be the domain of video games
Agreed. I never have, and never will see a difference between 1080i and 1080p. 1080i looks very nice on my HDTV. I think that Blu-ray will be the last physical media that we will see.
That's because there is no difference on a digital TV like DLP or LCD. The framebuffers wait for a full frame because that's just how often they are refreshed.
Not to mention disc-independent HD content from the iTunes store.
"Blu-ray will be the last physical media that we will see."
If that's true then the world will have gone down the crapper.
Hell yeah it outsold. I finally went HD and bought a Blu Ray player and several movies. Friggin finally I can enjoy my 1080 plasma
I just want a 15-25gb optical drive on my computer for $50 and then 100 discs for another $30 please.
The sooner you get me close to that the happier I will be.
They do want to make me happy don't they?
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Blu_ray_players_grab_93_percent_of_market_after_Warner_went
Wow, its amazing how well something can succeed when all you do is throw money around (points at Sony).
I work for a major electronics retailer in New York. Just a few days ago I was looking at our numbers for Blu-Ray player sales. While they were selling in December, the numbers for January (and the month's not even over yet) have more than doubled what we sold in December for most models of BR players that we carry. I'll let you guess how HD-DVD players are doing...
And oh yes, the PS3 is not counted anywhere in those numbers because we don't sell the PS3 (or any video game systems, for that matter). My info is all stand-alone BR players meant to be hooked up to your TV.
Here's something that BD could do to secure the win... Put SD quality releases on BD, especially tv shows. Just think, an entire season of lost on 1 disc! That would help get BD into the homes of the 70% of the population who don't own an HDTV.
Oooh, I like that idea! In fact, you might not even need to have it SD. A typical season is what, 20 or so episodes, a 50GB disc can allocate more than 2GB for each one (that's taking into account space for extras) - that might be enough for 720p resolution even.
I would definitely go for a season-per-disc format for shows.
maan i just wish this would be over , so i can pick a format and not have to decide and have all these same dicussions over and over and over...even when this is officially "over" hd-heads who have an HD player will still run up arguments of how HD is still better
Watch neither format gain ground this year. The economy is tanking and there just isn't the disposable income for movies and players.
Smart Move by Microsoft, even though the temporarily back HD-DVD they decided not to build a HD-DVD player into their XBOX360 system, instead a separate part. So now when ultimately Blu Ray prevails MS can go ahead and order a custom Blu Ray Player for their XBOX360. MS had their bases covered whereas Sony bet the farm on Blu Ray, good thing its winning, or else Sony would have lost a boat load of cash.
that's silly. nintendo has long proved that you can survive and even thrive on proprietary media formats. even if HDDVD tanked for movies, it could still have been a viable format for game distribution while saving Microsoft from paying royalties to Sony.
also would hedge piracy a ton if the media was harder to come by and more expensive.
Gee, Sinai, you finally said something intelligent.
I think a built-in HD-DVD drive in the 360 just MIGHT have made a difference. Especially if all that capacity could have been used for games, the way the PS3 can use its Blu-Ray (the 360 add-on can't transfer data back to the console).
And, even in the absence of Blu-Ray, MS could very well have made HD-DVD a kind of proprietary, Xbox only format. Maybe they still will...
There used to be a time where I would have gone out and bought that HD DVD player for my XBOX 360 because I was impatient and couldn't wait. Now I'm glad I'm in no rush to buy the drive. I'm glad the war is almost over. It costs too much money to produce disks in 2 formats and that is passed along to consumers.
Blu-Ray must NOT win. If they do, then expect a monopoly where Sony owns the movies, the movie companies and the movie distribution mediums.
Then expect inflated prices not only for movies, but games, media, and maybe even players.
Way to go fanboys, you just screwed us all.
your reply can't be serious. there's no way you can be that dumb.
I hate when people make this comment about blu-ray having a monopoly. VHS beat betamax, did they have a monopoly? Were VHS players so insanely high and VHS tapes beyond the reach of the average consumer since it was the only format after betamax died? Same goes with DVD, there isn't a format competing with DVD right now. I can find a DVD player for $20, some monopoly.
it's a monopoly because Sony owns every part of the movie chain. VHS is different because -- surprise -- most of the companies that are producing VHS hardware and media do NOT own the production houses.
it's like Apple having almost all rights to the iPods, record labels, and artist contracts. That's why it's a monopoly.
the reason VHS won is because it DIDN'T have a monopoly. VHS was willing to share its technology to get a foothold into the market. the closer comparison would be comparing Blu-Ray to BETAMAX because it was tightly controlled by one company, on both occasions BY SONY.
WTF! it's like im taking crazy pills@!
"It's a monopoly because Sony owns every part of the movie chain". This is completely pointless to say. Yes Sony makes movies, do they make every movie? The answer is no. They also aren't the only ones to make blu-ray players or the disks! If Sony were to place all their players at to high of a price point other companies would compete with them! It's common sense! If blu-ray won and Toshiba started to make blu-ray players there would be even more competition for you!
I mean really, lets take Sony and Samsung for example. Lets say Sony sells a DVD player for $100 that cost them $50 to build. Samsung also has a DVD player that they sell for $100 and also costs them $50 to build. One of the companies, we'll say Samsung since you lose all brain function when Sony is mentioned, then realizes they can offer the same product for a lower price and still make a profit. They then do so and start to sell a lot more then Sony. Sony then see's how well they are selling and realizes they can put their player at an even lower price! It's not that hard of a concept to understand!
The reason you feel like your taking crazy pills isn't because we're crazy. It's because you can't grasp a simple concept, I mean look at you, you've got a low rank...there is probably a reason for that! Of course you'll probably claim it's just "fanboys" which isn't true, unfortunately your to far gone to help.
Can we back this data up with Disc sales? I know we all need the players but what movies are selling in what formats? Some movies are still in both formats... Where are these numbers?
actually optical devices are less useful as Steve think...
Sinai, that's why I was hoping HD-DVD would win. It wasn't created by a company that also has its own movie studio. Once Sony has the hi-def market cornered, they can charge whatever they want for their movies on that format. I was hoping blu-ray was going to be another betamax. oh well. guess I'll hold on to regular DVD until they stop producing it for the next next-gen format
deez, here's some basic business. Supply and demand. Sony provides the discs for their movies on one hi-def format alone. they could choose to sell them at whatever price people are going to pay. This is what you get for backing a format made by a movie studio, and not a collection of companies that brought us DVD
prices come down as consumers begin to adopt a format -- AS LONG AS THERE IS SUFFICIENT COMPETITION WITHIN THE MARKET. The less competition there is, the longer the prices stay afloat.
There are tons more xbox 360 customers than ps3 buyers, yet xbox 360 games are NOT getting cheaper, why? because microsoft has a proprietary system locking in development houses and end users. they control the chain from top to bottom!
@sinai
You are a complete idiot if you think that Microsoft controls the game pricing. Did it ever occur to you that developers of the game have to charge $60 to even make a profit?
@sinai
You are a complete idiot if you think that Microsoft controls the game pricing. Did it ever occur to you that developers of the game have to charge $60 to even make a profit?
@sinai: The reason people pay $60 for videogames is because they perceive that as being an appropriate price and a good value. People won't pay $60 for movies. Maybe you're too young to remember but it's been tried before. Movies used to be priced at $75-100 for video stores, then months later would get the $25 sell-thru price. Eventually the studios figured out instead of selling 50K copies to video stores and letting them reap the profits they could sell 500K copies to end consumers by pricing all movies at sell-thru. Bottom line, Sony's discs are a leisure item and people won't pay more for 'em than they think they're worth. People would rather just watch YouTube or um, pay video games.
I'm not a fanboy, but I just want to say this to piss everyone (or most of you atleast) off. Rate me the lowest, lmao.
The reason for HD-DVD's death is because Apple is backing Blu-Ray and MS backs HD-DVD. Since everything Apple touches is sure to succeed, so will Blu-Ray, and everything that MS touches is sure to fail, so will HD-DVD.
On a serious note, I will blame MS for the death of HD-DVD. If it were integrated to the 360, say goodbye to Blu-Ray.
... and i own a ps3, so I am kind of happy I dont have to buy an HD-DVD player, or an add-on to my elite. :-D
Hmmm I'll bet the ps3 actually was one of the deciding factors (consumer wise). I've been using blu-rays from netflix since I had the ps3. (I might buy a few favorites now)