300 on Blu-ray sells a ton, 300 on HD-DVD... not that much
by Colin Torretta 
{ Aug 8th 2007 at 5:00PM }
When broken down between format types, 65% of consumers picked up 300 on Blu-ray, while 300 on HD-DVD accounted for only 35% of the sales. According to the USA Today article, this mirrors sales for the year with Blu-ray handily trampling HD-DVD with solid 2:1 sales.
The HD-DVD cabal can pretend that PlayStation 3 sales don't impact the high-def format war (a point they try to make in every single press release they send out), but it's clear that they're wrong. The PS3 has made a huge impact on the ridiculous format war, and this latest piece of info just drives that home. The real question at this point isn't "Who will win?" but instead "How long until Universal and Toshiba just give up and go Blu?".
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Carlos Ortega @ Aug 8th 2007 5:04PM
This is Blu - Ray
First
leo @ Aug 8th 2007 5:08PM
HD DVD supporters: THIS IS MADNESS
PHIL HARRISON: This is not madness, THIS IS SOOONNNNYY
"THUNK" NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo...........
leo @ Aug 8th 2007 5:12PM
now that jokes are out of the way, all i want to say is that the movie really deserves all the sales, and on blu ray to boot, yay.
Magma @ Aug 8th 2007 5:16PM
One of, if not the best blu ray title~
Mr Khan @ Aug 8th 2007 5:32PM
It does seem like PS3 is helping Blu-ray more than Blu-Ray is helping PS3, not like the PS2 where it was the other way around
Tom32 @ Aug 8th 2007 5:36PM
Look i love 300 i got it on blu-ray the scences are visualliy stunning.
@ leo it's Actually like this:
Hd dvd people:THis is madness
Blu-ray people: Madness? This is Bluuuuuuuuuuu-rrraaaaau.
Hd-dvd:nnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Tom32 @ Aug 8th 2007 5:37PM
Also sony doesn't care that much about ps3 sales cause it's helping them win the format war which will bring in a lot of money.
Yawar @ Aug 8th 2007 5:38PM
*shrugs*
I think they said combined high def (Blu and HD) disc sales just passed VHS tapes sales in the US.
Ripcord83 @ Aug 8th 2007 5:40PM
I just picked this up the other day too.
i use my ps3 as a blu-ray player, so the ps3 helped me to purchase blu-ray movies.
i have about 7 so far and they are all well worth it.
miguelon918 @ Aug 9th 2007 2:32PM
What about betamax?
shase @ Aug 8th 2007 5:47PM
The "sad" part about using PS3 for bluray is that the gap is still not *that* wide. I dont know the figures for # blu ray players sold but the ps3 is at least over a million in US so I guess kudos for Sony to forsee that Blu-ray tanking without PS3's help and added it in. My approx. is probably 30% blu-ray player, 35% ps3 and 30% hd-dvd and 5% 360 hd-dvd.
So a good move by Sony... i think Sony will "seal the deal" when Spiderman 3, pirates 3 comes to blu-ray exclusively. Also the good sales will hopefully prevent any companies from "turn coating" to hd-dvd...
phattie @ Aug 8th 2007 6:01PM
I bought 300 on launch day.. i have 8 BD movies so far. Although, no PS3 games since i sell them when im done with them.
craig @ Aug 10th 2007 4:28AM
Hmmmmm...nah I'll pass on the silliest movie of last year.
Blk_ball @ Aug 9th 2007 1:53AM
Umm.. I bought 300 on HD DVD and I was stunned at how gorgeous it was. I got Casino Royale, The Prestige, Superman Returns and Tallegeda Nights on Blu Ray and have not been terribly pleased with the picture quality. I mean, it's always gorgeous, but it doesn't have the detail or brilliance I've seen on my HD DVD player. Watching King Kong on HD DVD still is the most awe inspiring HD movie I've seen so far. My jaw actually dropped when I watched it for the first time!! Oh, and did anyone notice the HD DVD version of 300 was the only one to get the Blue Screen Picture in Picture? I did!!
mike @ Aug 9th 2007 2:52AM
So does that mean publishers should give up on the PS3 as a games machine it has far less than 35% of the gaming market share...
This is a serious point 30% market share is seen as not good enough so why should the PS3 continue to be supported?
Popfrogs @ Aug 8th 2007 6:26PM
Universal and any other foolish holdouts are only hurting themselves when it comes to media alliance. They will have no choice but to publish on BR discs very soon. This Christmas will be interesting.
AG23 @ Aug 8th 2007 6:30PM
Nothing like good old facts to shut up the HD-DVD/anti Blu-Ray fanboys.
This should keep them quiet for at least a day!
shase @ Aug 8th 2007 6:32PM
@12
The "holdouts" aren't really at a disadvantage since the sales aren't that "crippling". A big chunk of the sales comes from DVD so Universal can afford to wait since the total hi def sales (includes blu-ray) per movie is probably insignificant. If lets say movies starts to sell millions or so on bluray then and only then i believe universal will turncoat. With that said I believe when pirates 3 and spiderman 3 comes exclusively for blu-ray and sell million or so universal will have more incentive to switch.
WebMaster @ Aug 8th 2007 6:33PM
For Gawds sake, must we go over this again?
N.F.D. that the PS3 has saved BR and killed HD-DVD, while at the same time, PS3 owners can thank BR for taking the Playstation brand from being #1 to #3.
The PS3 has been nothing short of a trojan horse for Sony to push and win the BR format over HD-DVD, at the expense of developer support due too a small install base. What will be interesting is if this turns around and bites Sony in the ass when the EU gets done with their investigation. If the EU rules against BR then this whole scheme will come tumbling down like a house of cards.
This marketing plan, in my opinion, left the gamers and supporters of playstation out in the cold, which is why all my HD movies are purchased on HD-DVD. Out of principal I refuse to use my PS3 as a damn BR player, I bought it to play games.
digitalddt @ Aug 8th 2007 6:40PM
I can play either version but bought the HD DVD version for the picture in picture blue screen. It will be nice when BR finally has that feature.
Popfrogs @ Aug 8th 2007 6:41PM
@Webmaster:
You fail. The BR drive wasn't a trojan horse, it was a wise decision from a company that doesn't crap out a new console every 3 years because they don't plan ahead. The BR drive is *necessary*.
Never forget the old quote attributed to Bill Gates, something along the lines of "Nobody will never need more than 640k of memory". Whether or not he said it is irrelevant, but it's the same logic the opposition uses when mentioning the BR drive.
WebMaster @ Aug 8th 2007 6:51PM
popfrogs
That's your opinion, flawed as it may be, and no, I don't "fail".
Lastly, you can take your "The BR drive is *necessary*." quote and tell it to Nintendo.
RanWitScissorz @ Aug 8th 2007 7:01PM
A difference of 75,000 copies? Nothing really to celebrate, the war will not be decided until it becomes mainstream, only then will the numbers actually matter. I have both a BR and HD player, I picked up 300 on HD for combo disc and PIP blue screen.
Doug @ Aug 8th 2007 7:10PM
So many of you posting here are so PS3 biased that you've become blind to the reality of what is really going on.
Truth be told, neither game console (PS3 or 360) will have long-term meaning in terms of the success of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD sales. Right now the PS3 is making a significant contribution because it includes Blu-ray from the factory. But honestly, how many non-gamers are going to buy a PS3 so they can watch Blu-ray? Probably very, very, very few in the scheme of things.
Right now the sales of standalone players in both formats is very (unacceptably) low. And it will continue to be that way until someone starts selling players at under $199, if not under $149. And once we have players at $99, then we can decide which format is going to have long-term success, if it isn't both through the virtue of combo players.
If you were to investigate how many people currently watch DVDs on their PS2s/Xboxes, it is going to be very low. The same thing will happen long-term with Blu-ray and HD-DVD and the PS3 (or 360 if you count the HD-DVD add-on drive).
The format "war" is far, far, far from over. Right now the PS3 is helping Blu-ray quite a bit. But we can't go making any judgment calls until standalone players start to sell well. For right now, price-wise, HD-DVD has an advantage there.
Right now Blu-ray is enjoying a few sales because of the PS3. Perhaps a better way of saying that is that PS3 owners are benefitting from its inclusion of a Blu-ray drive. But both formats are failing, and doing quite a good job of it, when you compare with sales of DVD. And neither HD-DVD nor Blu-ray is on pace to overtake DVD... ever. Until the players are affordable to the masses.
My parents and most of my friends are classic examples. Very, very few will ever buy a game console. But a movie player is something that might interest them. But if the difference in price of adoption between two similar formats is 2:1, the cheaper player is going to garner more sales, assuming relatively decent media availability.
Whichever format gets a player under $149 ($99?) first has a real edge. Not which format has format support from a game console. Game console sales are pitiful when if compared against the sales of DVD players. (Even the PS2, with its 120+ million sales, is statistically insignificant compared to the sales of DVD players.)
The other issue is that a lot of folks just don't care about high-definition discs. DVDs are "good enough," especially if played on a good quality upscaling DVD player (which also happen to be quite inexpensive these days). At normal viewing distances it's actually hard to see the difference between a well-upscaled DVD and a Blu-ray version of a movie. With the high price to get into either HD disc format, there isn't a lot of incentive to do so.
The other current problem is availability of titles. Neither format has what I would call even a "decent" lineup yet. If you're into high budget shoot-em-ups then maybe you'll be somewhat satisfied by the current offerings, but in terms of classic, well-told, well-shot titles, they just aren't there on either format. It still feels like movie studio support of the high-def discs is lukewarm at best. I go into the stores weekly, hoping to find some great movies on either format and without fail I'm disappointed every time.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not here to bash... I like Blu-ray because of its capacity, and I am myself a PS3 owner. I'm just trying to be realistic instead of allowing a pro-Sony bias to infiltrate my observations.
Let's keep the long-term in perspective here instead of becoming too overjoyed at a small, bump-in-the-road success.
Popfrogs @ Aug 8th 2007 7:25PM
@Doug:
"It still feels like movie studio support of the high-def discs is lukewarm at best. I go into the stores weekly, hoping to find some great movies on either format and without fail I'm disappointed every time."
I agree with you there. Once in awhile Sony sends out polls and one of them included BR movies. I made sure to vote for more "classics" being released on BR disc. I want the greats in 7.1 uncompressed pcm...like the Good, the Bad and the Ugly or Psycho.
Andy @ Aug 8th 2007 7:30PM
All I know is the transition for DVD to Blu-Ray will be much slower than VHS to DVD.
Are DVD's capable of being 720p?
If they are, which looks better at 720p(Blu or DVD)?
secret @ Aug 8th 2007 7:41PM
PS3 is good.
Mustang @ Aug 8th 2007 7:56PM
Hmm. Lets see. Best Buy lists the HD-DVD version at 35 bucks and it plays in a regular DVD player too! Not to mention it has alot more special features. The Blu-ray edition is 30 bucks, but lack most of the feature. Well if the uneducated see the 5 dollar difference then well duh, its going to sell more. Thats a no brainer, cost means a lot to people.
Real Gambler @ Aug 8th 2007 8:31PM
The hddvd consortium scream high that PS3s should not be counted as HD players because they are game consoles. They scream that if you remove the PS3, then they are the one who sold the most standalone players. You see big title everywhere about them claiming they have sold the most players.
Next day, if a movie is more popular in bluray than hddvd, it's because of the PS3!!!!
Please, hddvd lovers, make up your mind!!!
For me it's dirt simple... If 300 sold more bluray than hddvd, then it's the favorite format. No matter what!
Real Gambler @ Aug 8th 2007 8:37PM
24. MUSTANG: Wow, this is awesome.... People buy the bluray because it's a few $ cheaper... And then what, they play it on their hddvd player????? That's the most stupid comment ever!!!!
If you bought a $500 hddvd player, you will buy a hddvd disk, no matter what!
If you bought $500 bluray player, you will buy a bluray disk, no matter what!
And if you bought both players ($1000), then trust me, you won't even look at the price of the disk... It's not a few $ that will sway somebody into one format or another... Man you're funny!!!!
Ste @ Aug 8th 2007 8:46PM
Webmaster, your comments about Blu Ray have made it blatantly obvious you don't work in anything to do with games development. Because if you did, you wouldn't be calling it a "Trojan horse".
Which means before you put your fingers to the keyboard, you should do some indepth research about the subject (no, research isn't reading blogs, forums or wikipedia), since you're making yourself look like a fool.
Considering I'm some nameless guy on the internet and you're unlikely to believe that I actually do work in the industury, I'll use a quote from Bill Hastings (Insomniac Chief Creative Officer):
"If you ever hear someone say “Blu-Ray isn’t needed for this generation,” rest assured they don’t make games for a living."
Many developers (Rockstar, Epic and Konami to name a few) are saying DVD9 is holding them back.
KiraXD @ Aug 8th 2007 8:58PM
@15 bought it to play only games huh? well that was stupid... 600$ to play what exactly?
as for me? i bought it to play games, play blu-ray movies, watch videos saved to the HDD, Rip music, watch Slideshows for all my pictures,use Linux, Internet, location free player... thats what 600$ gets... from the way it sounds.. you dont really own a ps3.... wtf would you buy HD-DVD and waste more money when you paid a premium price for a machine that can play blu-ray as well?... thats the most hypocritical thing ive ever heard lol
MYPS3KilledMy360 @ Aug 8th 2007 9:17PM
Web i cant back you on that last statement nintendo wii should not be considered next gen in anyway. next gen in my mind doesnt deal with anything but the graphics the jump from playstation to PS2 was next gen with no major changes. the wii should be called the gamecube 1.5. little bit better graphics with better peripherals. the wiis technology can be easily duplicated on the PS3 for example guncon uses the same basic principles of the wiimote. If the 360 core had wii like remote what would you buy.
Benjamin09 @ Aug 8th 2007 11:08PM
Did anybody look at the features of each movie had, Blu-Ray vs HD. I have a PS3 and also have the 360's HD drive. The HD version of 300 has more features over the Blu-Ray so I went with the HD version.
I will continue to pick up more HD movies vs Blu Ray because of more features built in to the movies. (I am talking of movies that are on BOTH formats
Plus I am a fan of the HD DVD and DVD discs I can pick up. My father doesn't have a next gen player but likes to watch the movies I pick up. So for 5 bucks more this is a good feature.
tobin92 @ Aug 8th 2007 10:18PM
I own both version..... HD-DVD does look better and has the exclusive feature....taht is beside the point.
The format war will be decided on who ever can hit a $100 1st....That is when sales fly.....Remember DVD at Christmas 2000?
John @ Aug 8th 2007 10:33PM
You know what, Colin? That is some saucy writing.
And I'm glad to see it. This is ps3fanboy. I appreciate how laboriously proper we have been in the past 18 months (or whatever-- has it been that long? Or short?), but I also appreciate that sometimes we gotta just let go, and get a lil bit saucy.
And that makes for fun journalism.
(wonders if ps3fanboy writers note how many comments to each piece)
John @ Aug 8th 2007 10:36PM
I can't not address tobin92:
You just said HD-DVD looked better.
Yet you didn't say why.
How did it look better?
Oh, also, I understand from what you wrote that HD-DVD has "The Exclusive Feature."
What feature might that be?
I mean, I know it's THE exclusive feature, but which one?
I'm pretty sure you're a real person, but if you don't want to sound like a plant, you are going to have to offer some reasons for your opinions, otherwise you're just spouting opinions.
tobin92 @ Aug 8th 2007 11:58PM
HD-DVD got PiP commentary with Zack Snyder, Pick your favorite scence and edit them together....Not to mention, You can share your mix online. It also got a game that is like checkers with Greek Risk feel.
dsub @ Aug 8th 2007 11:50PM
this is what happens when you force gamers into using your format.
I'm curious how well blu-ray would have done if MS had included HDDVD in the 360. Sneaky bastards.
Either way I'm not buying a PS3 until Toshiba waves the white flag.
SkeetSkiLee @ Aug 9th 2007 12:24AM
hey i have a ps3 of my own... and so far i've been avoiding buying any blu ray movie... for one thing they're a bit more expensive, but i'm just wondering.. is it worth it??i really want to buy 300 but i dont know if i should get it on dvd or blu ray...
unboring @ Aug 9th 2007 12:54AM
wow webmaster is such a douche, he trolls around these threads and posts ignorant uneducated posts ladden with anti-sony (because thats too cool) comments about things he doesnt know anything about.
bluray in the ps3 is necessary and will become progressively more important as more games come out for ps3 that use 10-50gb of data, ported ps3 games to xbox will be forced to be very watered down or 2,3, 4, 5 disc games. This is the dividing line. Calling bluray a Trojanhorse shows one of two things.
1. your a msbot anti-sony troll spreading lies all day across the internet forums while wearing your xbox360 jammies and stabbing your "sonybear" with a steak knife, creepy derranged boy.
2. your an idiot who knows nothing about game development or the future path these games are taking.
just my two cents, webmaster spends too much time in ps3fanboy posting about a system he doesnt own and never will, things he knows nothing about. I have no idea why, but i think he should get back to his wiiiiiiiiii. i hate these trolls, there ignorance lowers my iq
Jay @ Aug 9th 2007 5:37AM
blu ray will win by this time next years
Doug @ Aug 9th 2007 4:19AM
@Mustang:
Actually, given a choice between an HD-DVD/DVD combo disc and Blu-ray I'll personally take the HD-DVD so I can play it places other than my home theater system... Like the bedroom, or the car, or on the laptop. The extra bonus features are nice, but maybe not worth paying for. Its cheaper than buying both the Blu-ray and a DVD!
coplice @ Aug 9th 2007 8:24AM
300 is good, and i bough it on blu-ray, but just yesterday before i go to work i watched about 15min of The Prestige on a movie channel on TV, and man i had to buy that on blu-ray and i did
The Prestige is my favorite Blu-Ray title :D
Chameleon @ Aug 9th 2007 9:38AM
wow even when there's good news people are pissed. some of you are just never pleased.
Chameleon @ Aug 9th 2007 9:39AM
@ Doug and Webmaster:
I would follow you to the ends of the earth.
WebMaster @ Aug 9th 2007 10:56AM
Wow. I go to bed, and come back the next day to see all the sony corporate whores had come out to play. Let's tangle people.
Ste:
You're right, we're all just a faceless handle on the internet, and I don't believe you are "in the industry". I, on the other hand, have NEVER inferred that I was in the industry. Now, for your quote in regards to that. My reply is the same as to popfrogs. Tell that to Nintendo. Oh...btw...those same devs who quoted that earilier...betcha they are all ready climbing all over themselves to get up to speed on the Wii, except Epic...I don't believe they will.
KIraXD:
Yes, go figure, I bought a Playstation console to play games. After the PS2's success, why in the hell would =anyone= buy a PS3 to play games. Huh. You're a schill, and unoriniginal.
MyPS3killMY360:
That's ok ;) I never said I supported the Wii, hell, anyone who has read my posts in the past knows full well that I don't personally consider it next gen, and I hate the thought that is where our consoles could be heading. Nevertheless, to make the statement BR was needed to be successful this gen is simply sony fanboy crap, when the last gen Wii is outsellling Sony & MS by what, 6-1? That's my only point.
Unboring:
Standard FB Tripe. However one thing in your post was interesting:
"there ignorance lowers my iq"
The Irony is amazing. Anyways, sorry buddy, but you'll have to blame your genes on that poor iq.
ADR @ Aug 9th 2007 11:43AM
Wait a sec, the HD-DVD version has PIP support so you can see someone talking in the corner while you watch the movie.
I already know that and who gives a flying rats ass about PIP and all the other added features of HD-DVD. I buy a movie to watch the movie. I'll maybe watch a couple deleted scenes every now and then but I could care less about extra features.
You know what, so does nearly everyone else. Studios stopped investing much in extra features on DVDs because after some research they found less than 10% of people actually watch the extras.
If the HD-DVD camp thinks that extra features are going to win the format war they are fooling themselves.
Time @ Aug 9th 2007 2:13PM
It's not so much as being a fan of the movie format side of blu-ray, but the fan of the gaming side of blu-ray...I am not going to sit here and waste time trying to tell you how beneficial it would be to both gamers and developers to have 25 gigs or more of space for games, because if you don't know by now then you are obviously some sort of a moron or one of those "causel" gamers who don't know much about video games and just yank shit out their asses
people want blu-ray to when not for sony advantage but for gamers and developers advantage
think about it...lets say the sequel for your favorite game is in development, wouldn't you want developers to be free to go nuts with 25 gigs or more worth a space to create almost anything they could imagine?.......
Shit, I know I do.....I'm praying they go insane with blu-ray for God of War 3
if they can pull off amazing details and environments with just dvds who knows what they could do with the freedom of blu-ray
Time @ Aug 9th 2007 2:15PM
"win" not "when"
sorry