Sony's technology/media division has always had a higher importance to them than gaming.
Thus said, when this generation came about and the new console was to release shortly after the new format technology became commercially accessible, Sony had a decision to make.
It didn't take long to decide that winning the format war was far more important than winning the console war. That isn't the decision they had to make. The format market is outrageously larger than the videogame market, so they'd have been fools to decide that winning the console war was more important.
The decision they had to make was this - do we want to risk it?
They were risking a LOT on this generation - the ENTIRE Playstation name. By making the PS3 a BR player, they found a way to sneak millions of BR players into homes. However, what if it hadn't worked?
What if Blu-Ray didn't take off so far ahead of HD-DVD? What if the cost of the PS3 made it too much for anybody to find it worthwhile?
All that Sony had put on the line here would have been destroyed. Completely wasted. The Playstation name is now permanently soiled. There may not even be a Playstation 4 (although I think there probably will be, but it'll be Sony's last venture into videogaming. The PS4 will be the new Dreamcast). They would have completely ruined the Playstation brand-name for a failed format.
And that still may happen, but it looks like Blu-Ray likely will end up being the next format, if only for a short while.
SW-5120-1900-6153
