Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has said that he expects sales of Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 to rise by 10 per cent in wake of Toshiba’s discontinuation of its HD DVD movie platform.
Speaking to Gamesindsutry.biz, Pachter commented, "Longer term, I think it’s a huge boon for Sony, as most retail clerks will be instructed to push Blu-ray along with sales of HD monitors at holiday, so we should see a large increase in PS3 sales year-over-year at holiday.”
Pachter’s hypothesis is further echoed by Screen Digest’s Ed Barton and Richard Cooper, who both added, "With the format war over, and the end of the consumer indecision resulting from it, video consumers are likely to purchase the PS3 as the most cost effective, future proof Blu-ray player.”
"In the longer term lower price, higher specification set-top Blu-ray players will take on the role as best entry level Blu-ray player but not within the next 12 months. This could result in a small but significant rise in the number of PS3s bought over the next 12 months as Blu-ray players."
Elsewhere, Pachter also touched on the possibility of Microsoft adopting Blu-ray technology for its Xbox 360 console, suggesting that both an add-on or built-in device are unlikely to materialise.