Blu-ray Claims to Outsell HD DVD In Europe

The Blu-ray Disc Association says industry sales data show Blu-ray discs account for 73 percent of all high-definition movie discs sold in Europe.

The battle of evangelism between the Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition disc camps saw another broadside today, as the Blu-ray Disc Association claims to have sold its one millionth Blu-ray movie in Europe, and cites "industry sales data" showing Blu-ray discs account for some 73 percent of all high-definition movie discs sold in Europe to date.

The Blu-ray Disc Association also announced that Blu-ray recorders account for 97 percent of the HD recorder market in Japan, and that HD DVD recorders have "failed to make any penetration into Japanese homes."

The Blu-ray Disc Association’s sales figures appear to come from Media Control GfK International; according to the association, the top selling titles were 300,Spider-Man 3, and Pirates of teh Caribbean: At World’s End.

The announcement follows figures last month from Home Media Research that found Blu-ray titles are outselling HD DVD discs by a two-to-one margin in the United States.

Despite the apparently wide gap in the proportion of sales distributed between the two competing high-definition disc formats, it’s worth noting that the sales of one million Blu-ray discs across the entire continent of Europe in the space of a year is barely a drop in the bucket compared to sales of traditional DVDs or even (one dares speculate) video tape. For the most part, consumers around the world still appear to be sitting out the high-definition format war…although the looming end-of-year holiday season might change that.