Report concludes PS3 saved Blu-ray
The annual report of the Entertainment Merchants Association released recently stated that PS3 is "the primary driver behind Blu-ray sales, with 87% of PS3 owners watching Blu-ray movies on their console." With 3 million units sold by the end of 2007, the PS3 easily outsold the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, which sold 316,000 units. The EMA feels Blu-ray was the losing format in 2006, but thanks to the PS3, it rebounded in 2007 to become the de facto winner. Their prediction is the PS3 will be "the main force behind Blu-ray disc sales until 2009, when standalone Blu-ray players are expected to outpace the sales volume of the PS3." We think this report raises a number of questions:Is the PS3 really the driving force behind Blu-ray? Or is Blu-ray the driving force behind the PS3? Did Sony take too much of a gamble with a new format and didn't invest enough into the games? If so, will that improve now that Blu-ray has won?
What about the credibility of the report? Almost a year ago, the NPD Group found that 60% of PS3 owners didn't know it played Blu-ray discs. Is that a contradiction with this study or have consumers become more educated? As a side note, the study found the average gamer to be 33-years old with 24% that are older than 50. Are 25% gamers really 50 and over? If true, this might be good news for Sony.
What do you guys think? Fire away in the comments below.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Maverick Saturn @ Jul 4th 2008 8:07AM
I'm not 50, how would I know? lol
Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Jul 4th 2008 8:15AM
Some report...
Isn't this obvious?
Snake @ Jul 4th 2008 8:30AM
Old people are cool.
MCX @ Jul 4th 2008 8:33AM
Maybe that's why Msg4 features lots of old people. ;p
Syn @ Jul 4th 2008 8:47AM
50? Those stats can't be right. All of the 50+ year olds I work with, don't even know what a playstation is.. Nor care. Hell my grandmother just upgraded from VHS to DVD in the last couple of years. She actually thought I was messing with her when I told her I could store thousands of songs on an SD card. >.>
Find me a 50 year old who owns a PS3!
lesisking @ Jul 4th 2008 8:57AM
I am a over 50 gamer but I cant see that 25% of gamers are over 50
koehler83 @ Jul 4th 2008 9:05AM
These numbers seem to make enough sense to me.. though the old report that 60% of PS3 owners didnt know it was Blu-ray was a thick load of manure.
My mom is a 50+ PS3 owner who was well aware of its BD capabilities when she asked for one as a BD player last christmas. (She's also a guitar hero fan). So for me, all these numbers hit pretty close to home.
Fane @ Jul 5th 2008 2:04AM
Ditto here. Both my parents are over 60 and they both play Rock Band on my Dad's PS3 (just tonight, in fact).
BananaBoat @ Jul 4th 2008 9:32AM
They probably meant that 25% of Wii Sports gamers are over 50.
This report doesn't say anything we didn't already know. The PS3 was the cheapest Blu-Ray player, so some people bought it just for Blu-Ray and helped push PS3 sales higher. I think that going with Blu-Ray will pay off in the long run, but the higher cost of it, plus the cell processor, means that Sony takes a gigantic hit per console sold (compared with Microsoft). So while they are selling plenty of consoles, they are actually losing a ton of money in the process, and it will take years for them to recoup that money.
The real question is whether or not Blu-Ray can dethrone DVD and upscaled DVD's before digital downloads inevitably shrink the home media market down to collectors and enthusiasts.
theclaw @ Jul 4th 2008 9:37AM
HD-DVD was the superior format. Yet Blu-Ray utterly annihilated it.
Blu-Ray had not only won in movies, but also gaming and data storage. Most people don't know the format war went beyond just movies.
Magma @ Jul 4th 2008 10:41AM
Wrong. Blu Ray was -always- superior. More storage, more quality, more everything.
tan @ Jul 4th 2008 11:58AM
actually im pretty sure hd dvd was more superior
in everything but space.
whatever blu ray won
i couldn't care less:)
why not the LS2LS7? @ Jul 4th 2008 2:22PM
HD-DVD was vastly superior in ancilliary features people don't use much like picture in picture (used for commentary) and network access (used to sell you logoed T-shirts).
BluRay is superior in capacity and thus video and audio quality, which is something you use every time you watch a movie. It's also slightly superior in interactivity, used for fancy menus you don't necessarily even see.
HD-DVD was doomed. It had no business model. Toshiba's plan was to sell players below cost and make the money back on disc sales. The problem with this is that it means there can be no other companies selling players. They're not going to be able to compete on price since they can't make the money back on disc sales. So you end up with a system where only Toshiba ever makes players, and much like Beta, that's unlikely to take off. The rest of the industry will not support the format, they'll push another one (like VHS or BluRay) that they potentially can make money on.
So HD-DVD was doomed. Although it's very possible that BluRay would have failed to take off too if it weren't for the PS3.
Dehshizknight @ Jul 4th 2008 5:12PM
HD-DVD was the supposed superior format because the interface it used was HDi, VERY similar to the interface of DVD.
Blu-ray opted to used Java, which wasn't as advanced at the time BUT, with firmware updates, it caught up with the interface of HDi. For example, the iPhone uses Java for it's interface, which was developed recently. So technically, anything possible on the iPhone is possible on Blu-ray movies (provided if anyone cared or if legal restrictions allowed it).
HD-DVD recording was not as complicated because you could place the data on any part of the disk and it would run just as fast. On Blu-ray, data closer to the center would read faster.
In conclusion, HD-DVD WAS superior.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Jul 4th 2008 10:54PM
deshiznight:
That last big about putting stuff anywhere you want on the disc is completely made up by you.
You're talking about the difference between CAV and CLV playback. And neither format is defined to be CAV or CLV, it depends on the drive you are playing the disc in. In fact, the PS3 drive is CLV and thus doesn't exhibit differing data rates across the surface of the disc. All BluRay drives that I know of right now are CLV and likely will be CLV until they start getting faster than 8X or so, at which point, the will likely go to CAV like CD and DVD drives did. As far as I know, all HD-DVD drives made were CLV too.
Additionally, the iPhone doesn't run Java.
http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/sun-exec-its-mistake-java-doesnt-run-iphone/2007-10-02
Pavve @ Jul 4th 2008 10:32AM
"Almost a year ago, the NPD Group found that 60% of PS3 owners didn't know it played Blu-ray discs"
They must've done that poll in the US
lxicon @ Jul 4th 2008 10:38AM
i'm 36 and was happy to get a launch PS3 instead waiting 2 years like i had to when the PS2 came out. the price of the PS3 does skew the age demographic towards those who have that kind of disposable income.
i've raced plenty of 50 (and 60) year olds on motorstorm. i've got 3 or 4 of them on my friends lists.
as for the old report that said "60% of PS3 owners didn't know it played Blu-ray discs". i think we need to know what the actual question was. it might have been some jargon filled query that confused 60% of the people like "do you know if the PS3 supports bluray 1080p highdef video output over HDMI as well as digital optical audio outputs?"
enigma137 @ Jul 4th 2008 4:06PM
I'm Looking for fellow oldies to play online.
Add me for kidfree gaming
PSN:d1rtyhabit
Kevin @ Jul 4th 2008 11:08AM
I believe that they both powered each other.
How many people bought the PS3 because it played Blu-Ray.
And then how many people bought Blu-Ray movies because the PS3 played them.
matizzy @ Jul 4th 2008 11:17AM
ZoMG!!! i never knew it plays blue-ray disks!!!!!!
jk... just making a joke (and i know its spelled blu-ray)
ajiezer @ Jul 4th 2008 11:24AM
Well if the percentage of the 50's is accurate I'm glad because in 15 years I'll hit that number :) I'm sure that the majority of PS3 owners know about BR, I actually own more BR movies than BR PS3 games, 19 vs 15.
It was no brainer that Sony took the same bet that they did with the PS2 + DVD and I'm glad because thanks to that I jumped in the DVD wagon then and now I couldn't be happier with BR, I'm still amazed about how great it looks more than a year after I switched to HD.
I don't think that BR saved the PS3, many owners of PS and PS2 adopted the new console because of the great times it's predecessors gave them (at least that's why I did it) and the other console was never on my sight because I have used windows for many years so I know the quality of their products already.
tan @ Jul 4th 2008 11:58AM
well c'mon, this is just common sense..
without the ps3 blu ray players were selling way less than hd dvd ones.
so the ps3 sells millions, giving people blu ray, i do still think that blu ray is the biggest reason to own a ps3 atm.
Zonal Ripper @ Jul 4th 2008 12:01PM
IMO, Blu-ray saved the PS3
Jonage @ Jul 4th 2008 4:00PM
I switched from 360 to PS3 last week, hehe.
Jason @ Jul 4th 2008 4:07PM
I currently own all three current generation consoles, and I can safely say that without the Playstation 3 being not only one of the cheapest, but definetly most future-proof Blu-Ray players to date, I wouldn't have bought it. My PS3 for the most part is my multimedia station, and enjoys its existance as my main DVD/Blu-Ray Player, and the SD Card Reader and 80GB HDD are great for sharing photos and watching bootleg movies until their Blu-Ray/DVD editions come out (I really do buy the movies, honest).
I was an HD DVD supporter, but when it died I didn't feel like waiting a good 2 years or so until the Blu-Ray Profile 2.0 became the norm, as well as come down in price. If Sony made a Blu-Ray player using every part in the PS3 sans PS3 for around $250, I would've purchased that instead. My copy of MGS4 is sitting in the corner collecting dust crying, because it knows I didn't even want it. It just came with the 80GB Bundle.
Fane @ Jul 5th 2008 2:10AM
I'll take it off your hands.
Lukin @ Jul 4th 2008 6:40PM
I also own all 3 systems. Blu-ray saved the ps3.
ps3 for my multimedia machine
360 is for games
wii is for.....playin RE4 and thats about it.
Ranus Studios @ Jul 4th 2008 11:13PM
I bought the PS3 solely for Blu-Ray. The only game I've gotten for it was GTAIV, and in hindsight I should've gotten the 360 version. However, I've watched many more Blu-Ray movies than HD-DVD.
Martijn van Duijn @ Jul 5th 2008 3:45AM
The mediacenter properties were the main selling point for me for getting the PS3, including the bluray disc. Games are a nice feature as well, of course. In the end, I think PS3 and bluray were mutually beneficial to each other. Bluray helped sell PS3s, which helped bluray become dominant, which helped sell PS3s, which...
Paulmichael @ Jul 5th 2008 6:56AM
No, I don't think the general public would become that informed THAT fast...Besides, how was this survey conducted? Online, or in the more traditional sense?
steve f @ Jul 9th 2008 3:15PM
I'm over 50, and just bought a 40GB PS3 today. I plan on using it primarily as BR player in my home theater. From what I've seen the PS3 handles all the advanced audio formats including DTS-MA, which was very important to me.
Interestingly, the salesman wasn't real enthusiastic about my decision to buy the PS3. He insisted on demonstrating the PS3 menus on one of the TVs in the store, and kept asking me if I thought I'd be able to navigate them well enough to use it as a Blu-Ray player. Ok, I'm old, but I think I can handle it. For the price, and given the various features, the 40GB PS3 seems to be something of a bargain.
I was somewhat disappointed that Toshiba ended up on the losing end in the hi-def disc wars. Back in the early days of DVD & HDTV Sony lagged behind Toshiba in offering widescreen HDTVs, and also in getting a progressive scan DVD player to the market (for you whippersnappers, the introduction of prog scan was a very big deal). It's ok that BR came out on top, I just wish someone besides Sony was behind it.