Imperial on 11 October 2008
You ask did they take advantage of their customer , most definetley . Despite the major advantages the blu-ray has to offer I think DVD would have just about sufficed for this gen at the very least , Blu-Ray techonology pushed the PS3 to a £425 price point which is way past affordable for the average person.
They took advantage of the brand name the playstation had , they assumed that the PS3 would experience the success the PS2 had which would consequently make Blu-Ray adoption/success a guarantee (imagine if the PS3 had the Wii's install base , that's 30 MILLION Blu-Ray players , that's cheaper blu-ray , more Blu-Ray recognition basicaly the perfect scenario for Sony). So Sony would have planned to end this gen with a profitable PS3 and a lucrative Blu-Ray royalties.
If not for brand loyalty the PS3 would have struggled to break the 7 Million barrier IMO , HD-DVD would be on every shelf across the country etc.
I'm not sure wether the move was worth it at this point , Blu-Ray is growing but with Digital media entering the market the future of disc based media could be at risk.
