A quick update on the high-definition disc format war: according to Home Media Research (a division of Home Media Magazine), Blu-ray titles outsold competing HD DVD titles by nearly two-to-one in the United States during the first nine months of 2007, although new exclusive HD DVD releases with integrated games and interactive features may change the story during the important fourth quarter of the year.
According to Home Media Research, U.S. consumers purchased 2.6 million Blu-ray titles between January 1 and September 30 of 2007, whereas consumers purchased only 1.4 million HD DVD titles during the same period. However, industry watchers expect that a coming series of HD DVD titles with interactive content and games may boost DVD sales…and then there’s movie studio Paramount’s recent announcement that it would release future titles only in HD DVD format, including the action flick Transformers, which has already sold over 100,000 HD DVDs in its first week of release.
The new figures bring the total number of high-definition discs sold to about 5 million, with Blu-ray accounting for about 3 million and HD DVD selling about 2 million discs. However, sales of high-definition discs still pale in comparison to standard-definition DVDs: for the most part, consumer seem content to let the format war wage quietly around them, and wait for a clear winner to emerge.
