The latest research from Futuresource consulting has found that by the end of 2009 over 100 million Blu-ray discs will be purchased by customers in Japan, the US and in Western Europe.
Even in the midst of the current economic climate it has been noted by this latest research that with the cost of buying Blu-ray players falling significantly and the massive increase in the number of High Definition TV’s being used the interest in Blu-ray discs are set to go up as a result.
A senior market analyst at Futuresource said “In the USA, Blu-ray has moved from early adopter phase through to early majority, with the format gaining real traction in the marketplace. Last year in the US alone, Blu-ray video retail sales increased by a whopping 320 per cent to 24 million units; and we’re going to see momentum continuing in 2009, with over 80 million disc sales forecast.
The analyst went on to explain “The UK is the largest market for Blu-ray discs in Western Europe. With sales of more than 3.5 million units in 2008, it represented over 40 per cent of the West European total.”
This huge popularity of Blu-ray discs in the UK will mean that it will be more likely for both the creation of and advancements in Blu-ray technology to be focused on the UK marketplace.
The managing director at Futuresource, Jim Bottoms also said “Blu-ray disc sales continue to expand into all major markets and genres. Although to date the business has gravitated towards new release titles. In particular, the action adventure genre dominates, appealing strongly to the young male technology adopter, which also closely matches the PlayStation 3 owner profile. By 2012, around 50 per cent of US and 35 per cent of Western European video disc retail sale volumes will be Blu-ray.”
Source - www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/