Is Blu-ray Winning the HD Format Wars?

We've talked a lot about how there's been no clear winner in the Blu-ray versus HD DVD format wars. Now thanks to the PS3, it appears Blu-ray is pulling away according to Blu-ray.com:

Blu-ray software sales have now surpassed HD-DVD for the first time the week of December 24 and they did so by an impressive 20 percent. The sales gap is expected to widen further in 2007 based on research conducted by Twentieth Century Fox and Blu-ray is expected to outsell HD-DVD by a 3.5-to-1 ratio by the end of the first quarter.
One of the driving factors behind the growth in sales is the PlayStation 3 (PS3), which was launched on November 17, 2006 in North America. The PS3 has been selling out at retail outlets since it was launched and despite shortages Sony has been able to meet its target of shipping 1 million PS3s in North America by the end of 2006. What's even more impressive is that they did it faster than their top-selling PlayStation 2 (PS2) platform did when it was launched. Sony is now targetting 6 million PS3 consoles shipped worldwide by the end of the fiscal year (end of March
2007).

The article also points out that a big part of Blu-ray surpassing HD DVD is studio support:

The content advantage that Blu-ray enjoys is another major factor that should become more and more evident now that the Blu-ray exclusive studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, MGM and Lionsgate) are starting to release more titles in the format. When looking at the 20 top selling DVDs of 2006 almost all were released by movie studios supporting Blu-ray, which means that titles such as Pirates of the Carribean and Cars will only be available for Blu-ray. The content advantage should further shift in Blu-ray's favor as the format neutral studios (Warner, Paramount) catch up their Blu-ray release schedules with HD-DVD so that the same movies are available for both formats.

I still think it's too early to declare Blu-ray the "format of the future" but thanks to the PS3 it's definitely looks to be pulling away. We'll keep an eye this race!

At Blu-ray.com

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February 14, 2007

Is Blu-ray Winning the HD Format Wars?