New-Gen Consoles lead Next-Gen DVD player sales
If you’re the type that follows next-gen DVD formats and plays console games, you’ll be happy to know that the new consoles currently outsell the dedicated players by a large margin.
Sales of stand-alone DVD players have been slow, but there is an alternative for consumers looking to try high-def discs: game devices. Sonys PlayStation 3, which costs around $500, comes equipped with Blu-ray. And for $200, consumers can pick up an attachment that plays HD-DVD movies for Microsoft Corp.s Xbox 360, which costs $300 to $400.
About 695,000 consumers own either a Blu-ray or an HD-DVD player, according to Tom Adams of Adams Media Research in Carmel, Calif. But only about 25,000 have purchased stand-alone Blu-ray players. Another 400,000 consumers have Blu-ray because they bought a Sony PS3 game console. Meanwhile, about 120,000 or so have a stand-alone HD-DVD player while about 150,000 have an HD-DVD upgrade kit for their Xbox 360 game consoles, Mr. Adams says. He adds that those numbers are well in excess of the 300,000 DVD-player sales in 1997, when that technology rolled out.
You might want to take into account a couple small facts when looking at these numbers:
- PlayStation 3 owners aren’t guaranteed to buy Blu-Ray movies – though it’s what Sony is hoping for.
- Users who bought the upgraded drive for the Xbox 360 did so specifically to watch HD movies.
- When DVD came out, you could see the difference on a regular TV – without having to get a new set.
When you sum it up, these numbers prove that maybe the next-gen DVD formats weren’t as important as studios want them to be – especially if they had to bundle them with gaming consoles to raise the install base. Then again, that’s just my opinion.
New DVD players resolve battle of formats [via PostGazette]
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