Quote:
Originally Posted by ratinox
Blu-ray launched mid 2006 with PS3 being released in November 2006. Happy 10th birthday, PS3  . I have a hard time swallowing the idea that a world-wide, mainstream consumer console, which Sony also positioned as their flagship Blu-ray player, was a niche product for early adopters. Sony certainly did not see it that way and they didn't market PS3 and Blu-ray that way. |
At least in the places I haunted back then I remember the PS3 being marketed with blu-ray as a secondary feature and it was certainly not Sony's flagship player by a long shot (that would have been the BDP-S1). It started out as more of a hey get this to play awesome games on, oh and by the way it also has the added benefit of being able to play blu-ray movies. A way to try and get the masses into their new format. It just turned out that the PS3 was a very good BR player and it did more and was cheaper than the dedicated player so it was the player that many started with. Not to say the PS3 was a niche product, but blu-ray itself, as a movie format, was at first very much a niche or enthusiast format much like Laser Disc was (although Sony was hoping it would take off as quickly and thoroughly as DVD too over from VHS), even some hard core theater hobbyists didn't jump right away due the the format wars.
Even in 2016 there are plenty of folks that are happy to play low rez DVD's and have no desire to upgrade to blu-ray (although blu-ray now outsells DVD). It wasn't until 2008 however that all major studios even started releasing movies on blu-ray (Universal & Paramount being the last).