Topic: Sony planning Blu-ray movie/videogame hybrid discs

[Flames_of_chaos]

Source

Sony is promising PlayStation 3 hybrid game/movie Blu-ray Discs this year, as it seeks to broaden the console's consumer appeal.

As the PS3 is no longer one of the cheapest Blu-ray players on the market—high-definition set-tops are now $250 and under—Sony wants to emphasize the $399 console's ability to play games as well as movies.

Further, Sony Computer Entertainment executives figure the available 50GB capacity of Blu-ray discs could give PS3 a creative edge over other videogame formats. (For comparison, the maximum capacity for Xbox 360 discs is considered to be 9GB, and disc room is even less for Nintendo’s Wii.)

A PS3 videogame, typically taking up 30GB to 40GB of Blu-ray Disc space, features richer graphics and skill complexity over Xbox 360 and Wii games, according to Sony. But that strength is proving not advantageous enough for PS3, which has been trailing the Xbox 360 and Wii in sales. The most recent third-quarter sales of the PS3 declined from its performance during the same frame the prior year.

The details of the hybrid PS3 game/movie product are still being finalized, but the idea is that a PS3 videogame disc would also provide access to an entire feature film. Plus, consumers would be able to transfer the film for view on the PlayStation Portable, similar to the way Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s digital copies can be transferred to the PSP.

“We are actively pushing, and the way that we see the future is that the movie and the game are placed on the same disc,” said John Koller, director of hardware marketing for the PS3. “There are a lot of developers who say, we have this game based on a movie, wouldn’t it be great to marry these concepts? We will definitely see this stuff this year.”

Koller declined to specify which studios are in talks with which PS3 developers for such a hybrid videogame product, but he predicts that as many as two to three such hybrids could launch in 2009.

PS3 management believes creating this heftier bridge between its gaming and movie features will win over consumers.

“This is a value message with the PS3,” said Koller. “Consumers can capitalize on the larger amount of space with Blu-ray. There are grander experiences for movies or games.”

Many videogame industry analysts have advocated that Sony lower the price of the PS3 to jolt sales. During the Future of Packaged Media conference earlier this month, BMO Capital Markets senior analyst Edward Williams circled a $299 PS3 sweet spot.

Koller did not rule out upcoming price adjustments, but said PS3 is sticking with its $399 tag for now.

“We are always looking for market opportunities,” he said. “We are comfortable with the price point we are at today, but we are always looking at the market.”

There is also a drive to link movies tighter to PS3, after executives noticed a console sales jump coinciding with Warner Home Video’s release of The Dark Knight on Blu-ray.

“We saw a hardware blip during that week of Dec. 9, and numbers were above our forecasting,” said Koller. “We directly attribute that to the [title’s] release. We see that movies can help sell hardware.”

Beyond engineering hybrid Blu-ray discs, Sony will promote more PS3 games with console-exclusive features. The March 23 bow of Command and Conquer Red Alert 3: Ultimate Edition for PS3 will come packed with a developer strategy video, exclusive maps, bloopers and outtakes—material not available with other game console versions.

PS3 marketing also will stress additional assets over straight Blu-ray set-tops. Currently, the PS3 features one of the few Blu-ray players that can connect to the Web wirelessly. Plus, the PS3 is synced up to download and/or stream movie and game content from its PlayStation Store.

At January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Samsung became the first set-top manufacturer to announce a wireless Blu-ray model, for launch at an unspecified time. Some set-tops are just now adding streaming film capabilities via such services as Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand.

PS3’s 2009 TV, print and online advertising will be themed around this all-encompassing feature message.

“We will have a fairly robust ‘educational’ campaign,” said Koller. “We’ve talked about the player holistically up to this point. It was a brand effort versus a feature-based effort. We really need to elevate that point, that [rival players] don’t match up dollar to dollar, feature to feature with the PS3. We need to make consumers understand the total message.”

This sounds interesting and all, it could offer some exclusive features on PS3 games that wouldn't be possible on any other platform. But the pricing of these would be interesting since PS3 games are usually 49.99 - 59.99 new and new blu-ray movies are usually more than 24.99.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

At first I was going to say "this idea is horrible" but I've flipped around my vibe to say this is AWESOME NEWS in that it accelerates the speed at which Sony digs its grave.

Now we're simply waiting for the trucks to ship in the dirt.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

“We will have a fairly robust ‘educational’ campaign,” said Koller. “We’ve talked about the player holistically up to this point. It was a brand effort versus a feature-based effort. We really need to elevate that point, that [rival players] don’t match up dollar to dollar, feature to feature with the PS3. We need to make consumers understand the total message.”

That's great and all.  They forgot to factor if the consumer has that dollar to spend in the first place.

[Ian Sane]

Sony just lower the fucking price already.  That's the reason I haven't bought one yet.  I don't give two shits about Blu-ray.  Half the time I forget the PS3 even offers that.

Movies are relatively cheap compared to videogames.  I imagine some gamers will like having a movie thrown in with their game, if it's no extra cost to them.  But I doubt things will go the other way in that people that are primarily movie watchers will suddenly get a PS3 specifically for this.  Do these combos only work on PS3s or will the movie portion work on all Blu-ray players?  If they're only compatible with PS3s then they're just stupid UMDs again.

The PS3 actually has a decent lineup of games now.  It has better third party support than the Wii and better reliability than the Xbox 360 (no red ring of death).  Lower the price and emphasize those advantages.  That will sell PS3s, not stupid movie crap.  And we know they can lower the price because they just keep the same price point but increase the hard drive size.  Well how about instead of upping the hard drive you stick with the "small" one and make the damn system affordable?  Sony just has their head way up their ass.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I don't give two shits about Blu-ray.  Half the time I forget the PS3 even offers that.

Funny that is what I think of my PS3, a high quality Blu-ray player that I can play a game on every once in awhile (I have far more blu-ray movies then I have games).

[Djunknown]

For comparison, the maximum capacity for Xbox 360 discs is considered to be 9GB, and disc room is a little less than Nintendo’s Wii.)

Bolding mine.  Italics my edit.
Can they check and verify that 360 discs can go up to 9gb, as opposed to saying considered? It sounds like they didn't bother to fact check.

Also, what's the size of Super Smash Bros Brawl? With a quick check of Wikipedia, the max Wii discs can go is 8.54gb. Not quite 9gb, but doesn't warrant a belittling.

“We are actively pushing, and the way that we see the future is that the movie and the game are placed on the same disc,” said John Koller, director of hardware marketing for the PS3

Did they check if that was Ken Kutaragi in disguise? 

[Mikintosh]

Sony would have to give me a PS3 for free at this point for me to own one; the only exclusive I have any interest in at all is Little Big Planet. And why do analysts think people will buy a third-place machine just because its price is being lowered to that of the second-place machine? Are there any other markets that behave this way?

As for the specific idea, Blu-Ray is not bombing but it's not a blockbuster success, and the PS3 is qualified failure; I fail to see how pushing them closer together suddenly means boffo bucks. Also, how exactly is this supposed to work? Do we get a copy of "Superbad" to watch in the middle of playing Killzone, or...

[vudu]

You guys are looking at this all wrong.  This is (hopefully) a great way to reduce the impact of the secondhand market on these licensed games that are generally disposable.

Customer A buys the Transformers movie/game combo.  Once he's finished with the game he's not going to sell it to GameStop because he wants to keep the movie.  Customer B now wants to buy the game, but since there aren't any used copies available he purchases it new.

[Mikintosh]

You guys are looking at this all wrong.  This is (hopefully) a great way to reduce the impact of the secondhand market on these licensed games that are generally disposable.

Customer A buys the Transformers movie/game combo.  Once he's finished with the game he's not going to sell it to GameStop because he wants to keep the movie.  Customer B now wants to buy the game, but since there aren't any used copies available he purchases it new.

Why wouldn't Customer A just get the (undoubtedly cheaper) stand-alone movie? And wouldn't Customer B just give up on getting the game if it was not only more expensive then he was planning, but bundled with a movie he might not have wanted? And why would anyone support a format that was only out to stiff the consumer base by depriving them of cheaper prices?

[Spak-Spang]

You know I still don't understand the point of this product...it doesn't make logical sense to me.

If I want to buy a movie I want the movie...sure it would be nice to buy a game based on a franchise and get a movie or episodes free, but how likely is that going to come up in the industry?  Not very likely.

So then does that mean they are going to possibly start having the game in playable form and perhaps in movie/narrative form?  If so this sounds cool, but risks diminishing the product and confusing the consumer base.

[Chozo Ghost]

I wonder if this counts as an abuse of Sony's monopoly power. Microsoft got in quite a bit of trouble in the late 90s for bundling Internet Explorer with their Windows OS, and this forced quite a few companies into extinction (Netscape being the main one), and allowed Microsoft to seize well over 90% market share in the browser arena. This has declined since Firefox came along, but its still very high.

Sony is somewhat like Microsoft in that sense. Sony now has an unchallenged monopoly in the form of Blu-ray now that HD-DVD died out. If they start abusing this monopoly power for leverage to gain control over the console market this might invoke the wrath of the anti-trust laws. Neither Nintendo nor Microsoft has the ability to leverage the Blu-ray media to their console the way Sony can, so this could be a problem in the long run. It isn't a problem now, but Microsoft didn't become a monopoly over night either...

[vudu]

Why wouldn't Customer A just get the (undoubtedly cheaper) stand-alone movie? And wouldn't Customer B just give up on getting the game if it was not only more expensive then he was planning, but bundled with a movie he might not have wanted? And why would anyone support a format that was only out to stiff the consumer base by depriving them of cheaper prices?

Pricing hasn't been announced yet, so all this is speculation, but if Sony plays its cards right, things could work out well.

For example, let's say the Transformers movie is $25, stand-alone game is $60 and combo is $70.  Someone who wants the game could easily be upsold to the combo.  Once they're done with the game they could sell it back to GameStop for $30, but then they wouldn't have access to the movie any more.  And sure, you could sell the combo back and buy the movie and wind up with an extra $5 but the little extra dough probably isn't worth it to the customer.  They'd rather keep the game/movie combo because having the game in their collection (for replay or to loan to friends) is worth more to the customer than $5.

Meanwhile, even though Sony gives up $15 worth of movie revenue, they more than make up for it via extra sales due to a reduced second-hand market.  Obviously, this strategy won't work for every game.  It'll work for Sony the most when it's a first-party game and a Sony movie.  I don't have access to all the numbers, but it would likely work (albeit with a few tweaks) with third-party games and non-Sony movies.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Meanwhile, even though Sony gives up $15 worth of movie revenue, they more than make up for it via extra sales due to a reduced second-hand market.  Obviously, this strategy won't work for every game.  It'll work for Sony the most when it's a first-party game and a Sony movie.  I don't have access to all the numbers, but it would likely work (albeit with a few tweaks) with third-party games and non-Sony movies.

Except the motivation is to sell more PS3s.  This idea isn't a good way to do that.  There may be a segment of the market that would like to have the game and movie on one disc, but it's a segment made up of gamers, and gamers are best reached with good games.  Movie buffs are more likely to prefer the special features that the games won't leave room for.  On top of that, movie based games are notoriously bad, so why try to use them as a selling point?

I also have to wonder how they plan on dealing with packages like this with new movies.  The game based on a movie is typically released around the time the movie hits theaters.  People who like the movie and want the game will buy it then.  They won't need to buy the game again when the movie finally comes out on Blu-ray months later.  Anyone who held out will be able to get the game for less by then, either used or in the discount bin, so the double package has to be available at a discount from the start to compete.

[Maverick]

LOLSONY

Bringin' it back.

[vudu]

Except the motivation is to sell more PS3s.  This idea isn't a good way to do that.  There may be a segment of the market that would like to have the game and movie on one disc, but it's a segment made up of gamers, and gamers are best reached with good games.  Movie buffs are more likely to prefer the special features that the games won't leave room for.  On top of that, movie based games are notoriously bad, so why try to use them as a selling point?

Why do you think the goal of the game/movie combo is to sell more systems?  Sure that is definitely a goal that Sony has.  But I don't think that's the objective of this particular project.  Another Sony objective is to find ways to limit secondhand sales.  Some companies use DLC to fight used sales.  Others use exclusive content you can only access if you purchase the game new.  My argument is that Sony is going to include the movie as a way to limit used game sales.

And I agree with you that movie based games are bad.  But they sell a lot of copies to casual gamers.  And these are the consumers that tend to sell games once they're finished with them.  People like you and me don't sell our copies of Mario Galaxy once we beat it.  But fools who bought Enter the Matrix sell it as soon as they convince themselves they got their money's worth.  However, if the movie was included on the game disc they might be more likely to hold onto it even though they never have plans of replaying the game.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Why do you think the goal of the game/movie combo is to sell more systems?

Sony is promising PlayStation 3 hybrid game/movie Blu-ray Discs this year, as it seeks to broaden the console's consumer appeal.

[vudu]

Well, yeah.  You think Sony's going to so crass as to come out and say we don't like it when you buy and sell used games because we don't see any cash money?

Read between the lines.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well, yeah.  You think Sony's going to so crass as to come out and say we don't like it when you buy and sell used games because we don't see any cash money?

Read between the lines.

I read failure between the line.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Well, yeah.  You think Sony's going to so crass as to come out and say we don't like it when you buy and sell used games because we don't see any cash money?

Read between the lines.

That's not reading between the lines.  That's making crap up between the lines.

[Chozo Ghost]

Blu-ray needs to die a horrible painful death.

Bring on HVD!

[King of Twitch]

let's stick with DVD for awhile

[BeautifulShy]

let's stick with DVD for awhile

Keep DVD until this happens

Blu-ray needs to die a horrible painful death.

Bring on HVD!

[BlackNMild2k1]

Blu-ray needs to die a horrible painful death.

Bring on HVD!

It's what I'm holding out for, and have been ever since it was announced at the beginning of the BR/HDDVD war