Ben-DutkaWhile HD-DVD and the Xbox 360 is a connection that some consumers don't quite understand, it seems that most everyone associates Blu-Ray with the PS3. According to the Blu-Ray Disc Association, and due in part to the Black Friday sales insanity, there are now approximately 2.7 million Blu-Ray players in North American homes. And if the data released by Video Business is accurate, 74% of that 2.7 million (about 2 million) is PlayStation 3s.
In a recent article at DailyTech, they say it's more difficult to gather sound data for Blu-Ray players than for HD-DVD players, simply because there are so many more BD hardware manufacturers. In the wake of the Blu-Ray Association announcement, the HD-DVD Promotional Group released its own statistics after Black Friday, showing that HD-DVD players have topped 750,000 in North America. That number does include the Xbox 360 (thanks to the add-on that will allow the console to play HD-DVD), so it's clear people are using the feature with their 360. However, even though you can pick up a HD-DVD player for as low as $100, this doesn't seem to matter much to the Blu-Ray Disc Association:
“Despite the $99 HD DVD fire sale, Blu-ray movies were flying off the shelves in this crucial holiday shopping period.”
The Association cited Nielsen VideoScan, which showed that 72.6% of high-definition discs purchased by consumers were Blu-Ray, leaving only 27.4% for HD-DVD. The war continues, but if these numbers are solid, it means two things- 1. Blu-Ray is still winning by a significant margin, and 2. the PS3 is a primary driver of Blu-Ray acceptance and usage. Of course, this was Sony's plan all along…right?