Revised Blu-Ray forecasts for 2008

[meStevo]

Mobile News Network : Can Blu-ray save Christmas for Hollywood?

Most interesting part of that article IMO is that Sony still is on track to meet expectations of nearly doubling the PS3 install base between now and March (from 5.7 to selling '4-5mil more by March'). ETA till they have an economy-blaming press release for missing those figures? As a public company it's surprising to see something so misleading, they'd have to drop the price nearly 50% to hit such an ambitious goal.

Edit: as I said they'd do in another thread, they're painting marquee title sales as indications of overall improvement, instead of the aberrations they are:

In October, as the U.S. financial crisis came into focus, sales of Blu-ray discs more than quadrupled to 2.2 million units, it said.

The first half of that sentence has little/nothing to do with the other, it feels like the format war all over again, but this time we don't have the opposing press release to spin it their own way.

 

[toto]

Quote:
In October, as the U.S. financial crisis came into focus, sales of Blu-ray discs more than quadrupled to 2.2 million units, it said.

The first half of that sentence has little/nothing to do with the other, it feels like the format war all over again, but this time we don't have the opposing press release to spin it their own way

Actually it is related, in that during a period of a recessed economy, consumers spend more time at home. As a society, we've forgotton how to read, and jigsaw puzzles and card games are the ancient past We watch TV. Might as well enjoy the best experience possible. We're spoiled.

 

[meStevo]

Quote:
In October, as the U.S. financial crisis came into focus, sales of Blu-ray discs more than quadrupled to 2.2 million units, it said.

The first half of that sentence has little/nothing to do with the other, it feels like the format war all over again, but this time we don't have the opposing press release to spin it their own way

Actually it is related, in that during a period of a recessed economy, consumers spend more time at home. As a society, we've forgotton how to read, and jigsaw puzzles and card games are the ancient past We watch TV. Might as well enjoy the best experience possible. We're spoiled.

Ya but it didn't matter. In October Iron Man released. That has nothing to do with the economy, and is completely misleading to use it as a benchmark for showing that Blu-Ray is trending well vs the economy which is what the sentence implies. It's a marquee title people were going to buy no matter what.

These big movies being released are going to be spun as the norm and as signs that Blu-Ray is surging/trending higher despite the economy and DVD sales decreasing when it's a lie. The same will happen with The Dark Knight.

You're right about the puzzles and stuff though, I remember as a kid playing games and stuff when the power went out. This weekend the power went out for 2 hours. Wife and I cleaned house, we didnt feel like playing board games... lol. No TV and no World of Warcraft, we were bored out of our minds. "I've never played Yahtzee before" she said... and I couldn't convince her to even try haha.

 

[navychop]

A sale is a sale. Be interesting to see if they reach that target. I've cut way back on buying Blu-ray titles, but I can understand numbers of people entering the market, especially over the holidays.

 

[bhelms]

I have cut back to -0- as well, but that's simply a reflection on the 3 BD titles I have still in their wrappers and about 30 wrapped HD DVDs still in the queue, the latter purchased as "fire sale" items from several sources. Until BD titles come down substantially in price I won't be buying any more unless they are $10 and below. We are seeing some of that already and I predict the floodgates will open..."soon"...!

 

[teamerickson]

A sale is a sale. Be interesting to see if they reach that target. I've cut way back on buying Blu-ray titles, but I can understand numbers of people entering the market, especially over the holidays.

BOGOs. We need BOGOs. Or how about BOGTs.

 

[JoeSp]

Blu-Ray in its life cycle is still ahead of DVD. And nobody here is talking about how DVD sales are sliding.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/21dvd.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Blu-Ray is doing just fine. It is really DVD that is really hurting. The fact that BD sales are missing projections might just be due to the economy. I know that I have bought fewer BDs over the last 11 months then last year. Lets put this a little differant -- 4% decrease of a hugh market is more compelling to Hollywood then not meeting the full increase of sales projected in the BD market-- especially since that market continues to grow -- unlike DVD sales.

Hey, when you have to pay $4 for a gallon of gas it is either buy gas and go to work or buy a BD and stay home. I think we all know which purchase is going to win out here. With gas prices heading down to reasonable levels maybe we will see a leveling off of losses on all fronts in the economy.

 

[dlsnyder]

There are very few titles that I will buy on either DVD or Blu-ray these days. Most often, if I buy a movie, it is on DVD, because it is cheaper and my wife and kids don't really care about the difference. The one recent exception was Wall-E, which I had to have on Blu-ray. DVD was not an option for me.

As far as PS3 sales go, according to this article in PC World: Xbox 360, Wii Sales Climb in October, Fable 2 Leads - PC World

the PS3 only sold 190,000 units in the US in October, versus 803,000 for the Wii. Not sure if that is a vote of no confidence in Blu-ray or the PS3. People do love the Wii though - I know my family does.

 

[diogen]

Blu-Ray in its life cycle is still ahead of DVD.

BS.
But it ain't news... At least to anyone who knows Joe...

Diogen.

 

[teachsac]

Hey, when you have to pay $4 for a gallon of gas it is either buy gas and go to work or buy a BD and stay home. I think we all know which purchase is going to win out here. With gas prices heading down to reasonable levels maybe we will see a leveling off of losses on all fronts in the economy.

Dude, where do you buy your gas? Unleaded is $1.91 here in CA (some of the highest prices in the country because of your emissions law). I filled up w/premium for 2.11.

S~

 

[satjay]

I think the economy may be a factor in wanting to buy the newest electronic items. Many people are scalling a bit back this year for x-mas. For some they may be happy with the picture there upscale DVD player may have?? for now

 

[gadgtfreek]

Dude, where do you buy your gas? Unleaded is $1.91 here in CA (some of the highest prices in the country because of your emissions law). I filled up w/premium for 2.11.

S~

He may have been referencing the Fall when the crisis hit.

I for one am not worried about Blurays future, all this doomsday stuff has been going on since last year and is quite old. The cheapo players this week, and thru the end of the year, are going to help even more. Then theres the PS3....

 

[navychop]

Yep, it's spreading. People are impatient. We'll see those car players down the road.