Although the so-called console war rages on, the format war has been over for several months. Blu-ray shoved HD DVD out of the marketplace and into the closet at the perfect time apparently, as DVD sales continue have continued to decrease since their plateau approximately three years ago.
"Blu-ray had its second-best week ever in the seven days ending March 23," commented Steve Beeks, president and co-COO of Lionsgate. "We anticipate Blu-ray sales of $800 million to $1billion-plus for all of 2008, up dramatically from approximately $300 million last year."
This dramatic 351% increase in Blu-ray sales will help alleviate the somewhat sluggish DVD sales that movie studios are now faced with. Blu-ray will only continue to climb as more people opt for high definition content over the standard DVD fare. This begs the question, how long will Blu-ray last in the face of the ever-growing digital market? We’re not sure, but we do know it’s a great time to own one of the best Blu-ray players available, the PlayStation 3.