The Blu-Ray battle – not as complicated as you may think
With the advent of high definition video over the last few years, many arguments surfaced pertaining to which platform users would choose. Two choices were readily available: Sony’s Blu-Ray or Toshiba’s HD DVD. When both platforms were initially released, consumers had a difficult time choosing between them – both offered high-quality video with minimal differences between them. However, Sony’s Blu-Ray won – a decision that should have been easy to see. This result stems from Sony’s ingenious manipulation of the gaming industry.
The main reason Sony won was because of its latest gaming console, the PlayStation 3(PS3). The PS3 offered something that other consoles couldn’t offer – Blu-Ray support. The PS3’s biggest competitor, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, failed to offer built in support for HD DVD. This means that customers had to buy an additional unit to watch movies. The Guardian notes that “Sony has sold more than 10m Blu-Ray units while only about 1m HD DVD players have been sold” (Kiss). This is a direct result of social forces in gaming at work. Consumers wanted a product that could have built in support for a high definition format, and this clearly showed – more and more customers bought a PS3 for this reason. Another contribution to this dominance was the effect that having a PS3 had on social gaming. Many games were only PS3 compatible, and as the second article points out – parents wanted a product that would keep its value. This led to more and more children wanting a PS3, because their friends had one. In order to play with them they needed one too.
Eventually, there were a substantial number of Blu-Ray players, which paved the way for Blu-Ray to win. From this recent battle, it’s clear that teens and tweens represent one of the strongest social marketing forces in America, and social forces of decision making are pervasive. It will be exciting to see how the next major product battle is affected by social reviews and social media.
Article 1: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/19/digitalmedia.sony
Article 2: http://www.digitaltrends.com/opinion/how-blu-ray-won-the-fight-and-why-it-probably-wont-matter/