Blu-ray hits two million movies sold milestone

Will now "focus less on winning a format war and more on the consumer"

13 February 2008 16:34 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Two months after the million milestone was hit, total Blu-ray disc movie sales across Europe have reached over two million units, it has been announced in a press release issued by the Blu-ray Disc Association European Promotions Committee.

The most recent Gfk figures show Blu-ray disc movie sales totalled 2.37 million, which, the group says, means that 79% of the high definition movie discs bought by consumers year-to-date across Europe were Blu-ray compared with 21% in the HD DVD format.

The PS3 is being credited as one reason for the successful sales figures. "Sony Europe is delighted with the popularity of PS3 and the positive impact it's had on Blu-ray Disc sales", commented David Walstra, director, Home Video Europe, Sony Europe.

Sales up to Christmas saw over half a million Blu-ray movie discs sold in December, outselling HD DVD by 3:1 with a 75% market share.

"News from Warner Bros at CES last month caught the headlines but what this news proves is that the tipping point in the format war in Europe happened several months prior to CES and the tide has been running strongly in favour of Blu-ray Disc for many months", commented Frank Simonis, chairman of the BDA European Promotions Committee.

"Our challenge now is to move Blu-ray Disc into the mainstream. As a format, Blu-ray Disc is proving more attractive than even DVD Video at the same time in its development."

David Bishop, president, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, added an interesting quote to the release considering Blu-ray has been criticised for being a rushed, incomplete format:

"The Blu-ray success story just gets stronger and stronger. With this two million mark, we have reached yet another critical milestone in the European High Definition market and we have the opportunity now to focus less on winning a format war and more on addressing the needs of the consumer in adopting the Blu-ray format - and that is exciting."