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PS3 buyers using console for gaming over Blu-ray, says NPD

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DVDBack23 @ Oct 19, 2009 00:35 | 16 comments

Despite Sony's marketing team deciding to change the focus of the PS3 more to the console's movie downloading and Blu-ray capabilities, it appears consumers are still purchasing the system mainly for gaming.

Last August, the NPD Group released a study that showed that about 37 percent of PS3 owners had never once watched a Blu-ray film on their system. The second edition of the study was released recently, and the number hardly changed, moving down to 34 percent.

NPD did note however that the number of PS3 owners watching Blu-ray was higher then PS2 owners watching DVDs at the same point in the console's life cycle.

“It’s at a fairly high level, where it took years for PS2 owners to use [that console] for DVD,” NPD analyst Russ Crupnick added, via VB. “Most PS3 people think of it as a gaming device, but there is a reasonable level of awareness and intended use for Blu-ray.”

The new study gave the following figures to the question of why PS3 owners had purchased the console:

58 percent - Mostly to play games

34 percent - For games and movie, equally

8 percent - Mostly movies

NPD also noted that PS3 owners who have had their machines for a couple of years of more tend to buy more Blu-rays over standard definition DVDs and vice versa for newer owners.

“Newer owners are somewhat more oriented to DVD than Blu-ray,” Crupnick says. “The later you get into an adoption cycle, the more you’re not getting the super aficionado. These are people who are tougher to convince about the benefits of Blu-ray and who are sensitive to price.”

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Comments

Comment by: GryphB (Oct 19, 2009 00:38)

Well DUH! People don't just pay out the rear for a minor feature of a "Gaming System"

Comment by: jookycola (Oct 19, 2009 02:11)

"out the rear"?
"minor feature"?

Are you living in 2007?

Comment by: KillerBug (Oct 19, 2009 02:45)

"The later you get into an adoption cycle, the more you’re not getting the super aficionado. These are people who are tougher to convince about the benefits of Blu-ray and who are sensitive to price."

The real price issue is that DVDs carry very inflated prices, and bluray has to cost more, so blurays carry a super-inflated price.

Then there is the issue of decay...by this point in the PS2's life, most people with VHS collections had noticed that most of their movies had turned to stretched-out, overplayed, overpaused junk...this does not happen to DVDs, so it is harder to justify replacment.

There is also the issue of BluRay availability; most content that has gone to DVD is not yet available on bluray. I can upgrade my netflix account to BluRay for $1 a week...but I don't because there are only a couple of titles on bluray that I would want to watch. DVD had a lot of content available quickly, as old media shot in SD looked just fine when transfered to DVD by a professional...not so for BluRay.

Comment by: Morreale (Oct 19, 2009 03:55)

Top priority for my PS3 is gaming, then watching DVDs... I don't watch Blu-Ray because it's just too expensive. DVDs are too, but not when you burn them yourself lol

The 1080P upscaling makes my burned movies look like normal DVDs, which is nice :)

Comment by: baldfrog (Oct 19, 2009 04:08)

I bought my PS3 for movies, it was the main selling point as i had already got a 360. Without a shadow of a doubt the PS3 is one of the best media players available and its ability to seamlessly stream HD content is stellar. Also, the blu-ray player is still one of the best available. I use my PS3 everyday, just rarely for games.

Comment by: cazer (Oct 19, 2009 06:41)

i use my ps3 for every thing. people say it costs or cost to much before the price cut but you get what you pay for. a bluray is what around 150 and for another 150 you get a game system. i do buy blu ray but only for movies that call for it other wise i by dvds cause of price.

Comment by: bam431 (Oct 19, 2009 13:05)

Quote:
Well DUH!

That is exacally what I was going to say.

Comment by: milkyoreo (Oct 19, 2009 14:46)

Well duh. I bought my PS3 for some Call of Duty playing. If I wanted to have watched a movie, I would have bought a DVD player. However, once I eventually have an HDTV, I'll for sure get some Blu Rays.

Comment by: chubbyInc (Oct 19, 2009 16:12)

I gave up gaming on the PS3 a few months ago. I watch DVDs and Blu-rays on there only now. I think having to install most of the game on the hard-drive before playing was the turning point for me.

As for it being one of the best media players I would have to disagree, it doesn't play .mkv :(
Got my Quad Core connected to the 52" via HDMI, best bang for the buck, watch any format and a lot faster.

Comment by: emugamer (Oct 19, 2009 16:30)

Gaming for me. I own 2 blu ray titles. But only ones that I know I will enjoy a couple of years down the line or when friendsa or family come over. Had my PS3 for almost 2 years now and don't see myself buying blu rays. Heck I won't even play DVD's due to fear of laser life reduction. I only buy HD movies I've already seen and only if I feel it's worthy to add to my collection. There are a few old movies I want to get on blu, but the price needs to come down a lot.

Comment by: nadram (Oct 20, 2009 04:45)

What a shocker!!
people are buying PlayStations mostly to play games???

it disturbs me that this article was written, but what's even worse is that the boys from the NPD had to go through a market study to come up with that brilliant statement.

no matter what you call it and brand it, it's a gaming console first, that just happens to come with a truck-load of other features, big and small.

Comment by: fgamer (Oct 20, 2009 06:01)

I will say the PS3 is perfect at streaming wirelessy. I've never watched a Blu-ray movie on my PS3 I USED to have. Don't own a PS3 anymore so I don't know if I'd still not watch Blu-rays on it...probably wouldn't.

Comment by: xnonsuchx (Oct 21, 2009 03:13)

I'm just confused by the "Despite Sony's marketing team deciding to change the focus of the PS3 more to the console's movie downloading and Blu-ray capabilities" thing. Since WHEN???

Comment by: escalante (Oct 21, 2009 04:16)

Originally posted by nadram:
What a shocker!!
people are buying PlayStations mostly to play games???

it disturbs me that this article was written, but what's even worse is that the boys from the NPD had to go through a market study to come up with that brilliant statement.

no matter what you call it and brand it, it's a gaming console first, that just happens to come with a truck-load of other features, big and small.

The amount of people claiming that the only reason that the PS3 moved units was because of the Blu-ray player is huge. Thus this study was conducted.

Comment by: Gnawnivek (Oct 22, 2009 15:37)

i did originally bought the PS3 for Blu-ray in mind, but yeah, i find myself playing more games than watching Blu-rays now a day.

Comment by: Omen159 (Oct 25, 2009 01:18)

Just to comment on the price difference of Bluray to DVD, not much difference as far as I see it. Just this week Transformers 2 came out at walmart for $20 on DVD and BLURAY. Same price for both versions of the film, cant go wrong there, it goes without saying I bought it on Bluray