What if Sony had released Playstation 3 without a Blu-Ray Player

[tuoyo]

alpha_dk said:
I don't know why people are assuming HD-DVD would win. All it would have done would be to force more competition in the standalone realm; lower prices, more features and competition, and the formats battling on their own merits. Is everyone who is saying Blu-Ray would have lost also saying that Blu-Ray was worse than HD-DVD? Because even HD-DVD was too expensive for the mainstream at that point, so it would still have been a battle over the technophiles, which I am not so confident HD-DVD would have won...

I think many of the movie studios that were Blu Ray exclusive (if not all besides those that are owned by Sony) did so because Blu Ray was going to be in every PS3.  They would have expected PS3 to sell very well and (like me) saw no way HD DVD could possibly win. 

If Sony hadn't trojan horsed Blu Ray I sincerely doubt those companies would have been Blu Ray exclusive.  This would have resulted in a very different format war. 

HD DVD sold more standalone devices by a wide margin despite the fact that Universal was the only exclusive studio.  The HD DVD players were much more advanced than the blu ray ones and was the device of choice for tech heads even with the more limited movie selection. 

Blu Ray discs may be better due to capacity and scratch resistance but on a hardware level in terms of capability and price there was no contest.  With level footing movie selection and no blu ray in PS3 I don't see how blu ray would have stood a chance.  The war would still be on by now (and universal players would probably have meant the war never ended) but I think HD DVD would have been way ahead in sales. 

It is a huge pity that the decision was taken out of the hands of consumers as a result of Sony having the most successful video game brand ever.