News > Blu-Ray Beating Out HD-DVD
April 23, 2007
Some information gathered from the Hollywood Reporter is leading me to believe that Sony's strategy with Blu-Ray may indeed pay off. It seems that months after the release of the Playstation 3, the high-capacity, high definition format has finally taken the lead. Here are the details:
Of the high-definition discs bought by consumers in the first quarter, 70% were in the Blu-ray Disc format and 30% were HD DVD, according to sales figures provided by Home Media Magazine's market research department. Blu-ray took the lead in February, and its percentage of total sales accelerated to the point where it accounted for nearly three out of every four high-definition discs sold in March.
From Jan. 1-March 31, consumers bought almost 1.2 million high-definition discs -- 832,530 Blu-ray units and 359,300 HD DVDs -- according to Home Media Magazine. In March, consumers bought 335,980 Blu-ray Discs and 119,570 HD DVDs.
Since the high-def format's inception -- HD DVD launched in April 2006, while Blu-ray got rolling two months later -- more than 2.14 million discs have been purchased by consumers: 1.2 million Blu-ray Discs and about 937,500 HD DVDs.
Apparently the PS3 is good for something. It is the most likely reason that Blu-Ray is winning this format war, besides offering CPU power for scientific research. Oh yeah - and it plays games, too.
*Eddie R Inzauto - Senior Editor, GameWad.com
