Okay I have to admit I did not know this. When it became clear that Blu-Ray was going to win this war one of the first things that went through my head, is that Sony must be over the moon with the obvious royalty money that they are going to be raking in.
However that actually doesn’t seem to be the case. The Blu-Ray alliance as over 176 companies in it, including Sony’s arch enemies Samsung and Panasonic.
So the royalties from the sales of Blu-Ray discs will be split up over 176 companies with a large portion going towards promoting the need for Blu-Ray discs anyway.
This format war was constantly compared to the Betamax (Sony) / VHS (Victor Co) war of yesteryear. Which was obviously won by VHS. At the time everyone expected Victor Co to become a huge conglomerate on the back of that victory but instead, the stock prices crashed, it lost all market share and I am not even 100% sure it exists anymore.
Another interesting fact is that before Sony released the PS3 HD-DVD had 64% of the HD format sales, the current standing is now 65% in favour of Blu-Ray. Far from a crushing victory and possibly not what the general population ever actually wanted.
Blu-Ray: HD DVD Death Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Sony Win
Last Updated: February 22, 2008
DIRKA
February 22, 2008 at 08:04
PS3 RULES, AND THATS THE BOTTOM LINE
Banana hammock
February 22, 2008 at 08:12
I thought this was commonly known?
The HD-DVD camp is also made up of some 100 odd companies.
As for Samsung and Panasonic being Sony’s arch enemies, i don’t know if that sort of thing can exist nowadays. Business is business and companies make alliances where it fits.
Hell, even Toshiba and Sony (with IBM) made the Cell together, and i think Toshiba now owns all the rights to the Cell (i think Sony sold their share).
Fox1
February 22, 2008 at 09:19
The whole format war never involved the consumer from start to end. The movie industry just cared about which of the two formats could give them the most profit.