EMA Report Finds 87% of PS3 Owners Watching Blu-ray Movies

[PS3 News]

According to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Merchants_Association 2008 http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-38213-113.html, the Home Entertainment Industry holds survey results showing 87% of PS3 owners reported they watch Blu-ray movies on their console... essentially concluding that the PS3 saved Blu-ray.

The study also found the average gamer to be 33-years old with 24% that are older than 50.

To quote: 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?


More PlayStation 3 News...

[aleXtrm]

I think PS3 is the driving force behind blu-ray not the other way around. I can't really imagine too many people rushing to buy a PS3 as a cheap blu-ray player out of their sheer desire to watch blu-rays in comparison to the number of people who bought the console and as a result gained a liking of the new format.

Also, wow almost a fourth over 50. I can see how its more catered for an older audience with a heftier price tag, but I could never assume there were so many gamers over 50!

[lonix81]

Probably a bit of both... PS3 gamers also buy blurays

free ps3's with bravia tv's means people use PS3's to play blurays

[wrique]

mainly to watch Blu-Ray movies. I have a few games on it that I play ever so often (I am over 50). But I think Blu-Ray may die due to one reason - it's not backward compatible with DVD. When I get a Blu-Ray disk off of Netflix, I can only watch it in one room. I can't take it on a trip. My daughter can't watch it in her room. When I buy a Blu-Ray disk, I can't rip it to my media server.

I know the format will become more pervasive and eventually be in these locations, but will it before the companies give up. Don't get me wrong, I love the A/V quality and the features (that's why I bought the PS3) , it's the convenience of DVD that I miss horribly. But, unfortunately, history tells us that convenience wins over quality in the marketplace (cell phones, MP3s, etc.). Blu-Ray will probably just be the audiophile's/videophile's choice and be reduced to that.

I know they have a BD/DVD hybrid format in the works, but I haven't seen any popular movies in that format yet.

The solution (today): include a DVD disk of the movie along with with the Blu-Ray disk when I purchase it (not a digital download - the quality is too poor). This would justify the price of the Blu-Ray disk and solve my problem.

Later on make BD/DVD hybrids or cheaper Blu-Ray players/disk drives and the pervasive-ness will follow.

[semitope]

the reason dvd is convenient is that u have the needed players in the places u mention. why cant u get bluray players in those places as well? cost?? then the solution is cheaper hardware. i saw a bluray reader for 70$ on newegg recently and players are getting cheaper. everything to do with bluray needs to be cheaper

if you are 50 u most likelty went thruu the vhs to dvd/cd change as well and had to get new hardware.