Blu-Ray Reliance on PlayStation 3 Is Cause for Concern

The embedded Blu-Ray player on Sony's PlayStation 3 console may have been the determining factor in the format war victory over HD DVD, but a new report suggests they shouldn't put all their BD eggs in the PS3 basket. According to Next-Gen Biz, the Blu-Ray market is dominated by the PS3 player and the studios should be leery of that.

"The studios better hope that people are playing movies on their PlayStations," said ABI Research analyst Steve Wilson. "Otherwise there's very little installed base."

Wilson added that, in 2008, approximately 85% of all Blu-Ray players on the market were the PS3 console and he didn't expect the stand-alone or PC-based players won't be up to speed until 2013.

He said that with consumers' growing DVD libraries and the advent of upcoversion DVD players, which account for 35% of DVD players now and should be 60% by 2013, the average customer doesn't see too much need to upgrade to BD.

"The studios had hoped to have settled the war," Wilson added. "But I think they're going to be disappointed when they don't see the volumes of players going up they way they would have liked."