An interesting perspective, especially regarding "under-the-table" deals as being a determining factor. I disagree, though. Here's a quote from the article:
"Warner isn't talking, but people close to the situation say the studio is waiting to see which group sells more of the new-fangled DVD players this holiday season. "Warner wants one of the two sides to make a commitment to getting this format into as many hands as possible," says a studio executive with knowledge of its thinking.
So far Toshiba has eked out a lead. According to industry tracker Adams Media Research, by the end of this year as many as 578,000 U.S. households will own HD DVD players, compared with 370,000 that have Blu-ray players. Adams also estimates there are 300,000 more HD DVD players in circulation inside Microsoft Xbox game consoles. But that still pales in comparison to the estimated 4 million Blu-ray-equipped Sony PlayStation 3 consoles sold in the U.S."
That all said, the key thing to take from that is: "getting this format into as many hands as possible". $150M deals and cheap promises only goes so far. In the end, Warner is thinking long-term, and that is, what's going to sell the most product and make them the most money in the end. Remember, the whole purpose of both Blu-ray and HD DVD is to replace DVDs as the vehicle of choice for home movie viewing.
If anything, Michael Bay's comments regarding Microsoft wanting both formats to fail should have executives asking if there might be any truth to that, and if so, what would be the best course of action to ensure that it doesn't. It's pretty obvious what the answer to that question is: support the superior format.
I think it's interesting that Paramount/Dreamworks stated that their decision was based on cost and affordability. Quite frankly, I think that was a BS comment to defer from the $150M deal that was made, but even if it were true, does that sound like a smart business decision? C'mon, the reason anyone is in business is to make money, why would you want to sell something for little or no profit? Just doesn't make sense, especially since retailers are selling both formats (software side) for the same price. And from what I've read, in the end it's more a matter of pennies, not dollars, in the cost difference of production. I don't have the links, I've seen them out here, but take that comment with a grain of salt until someone provides one.
In the end, I still contend that it's going to be a matter of who sells more movies. Warner doesn't manufacture players, and they're not going to make the distinction between PS3 and a stand-alone player as far as how many units are in consumers' hands, it's just going to be "how many Blu-ray players are out there?" That said, and looking at it from that perspective, Blu-ray is hands down the leader in both hardware and software, and the public at large has already started to show their preference.
Here's to the best product winning!
