The entertainment industry in general has been fortunate to avoid a lot of the economic strife other industries such as the housing market are enduring. For the Blu-ray format, this is the most important holiday season yet where HD DVD is officially off the radar and titles are being released at a fast and furious pace.
With this in mind, Parks Associates earlier this year predicted 5 million Blu-ray players would sell globally in 2008, up from a combined 1.6 million combined HD DVD and Blu-ray players in 2007. At the time it appeared the economic climate would not affect the forecast.
In an email to BetaNews, Parks Associates has revised down their estimates by 25 percent, or 4.3 million worldwide and 2.2 million stateside, citing a softening of player sales that began in September. This is the month when player sales should have increased as holiday “deals” and revised pricing began to pop up at various retailers.
Taken at face value this news is depressing to Blu-ray adopters and those still on the fence. But there’s one important missing piece of information in these estimates that will dramatically boost Blu-ray player sales.
The estimates do not include Playstation 3 sales.
Now granted, most Playstation 3 consoles moved this holiday season will be to enjoy LittleBigPlanet, BioShock, Resistance 2 and other games. But there will be a sizable number of new Blu-ray adopters spawned from these consoles which surely will improve the format’s outlook.
Combine the fact that Blu-ray player prices are still coming down on a seemingly daily basis, including promotions such as packaging The Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-ray set in with a player, with the x-facor, Playstation 3, and this analyst may want to reconsider his sharp forecast adjustment.
– Dan Bradley
Source: BetaNews
