Universal Wants Format War to Continue

Speaking exclusively with HiHD's Scott Hettrick, Universal president Craig Kornblau admitted that his studio is in favor of the format war continuing, despite the negative effects it has on consumer adoption. While its hard to argue that this war has driven down hardware prices and increased quality of releases much faster than if there was only a single format, consumers have mostly stayed away from buying either until a victor can be decided. Kornblau now believes that HD DVD's existence is so fragile, that if Universal were to decide to go neutral and start releasing on Blu-ray, HD DVD would cease to exist. In fact, they are so dedicated to HD DVD, that Universal has walked away from additional financial incentives to release Blu-ray content, besides the additional revenue they would make by releasing on the more consumer adopted format. There is hope, however, that this war could soon be over. Kornblau admits that once players reach $200, consumers will begin making their decisions about which format to adopt, and that is when Universal will decide who to support. As we march towards the forth quarter, it is very realistic that Toshiba will slash the price of their players for a third time this year (in yet another act of desperation), paving way for a $200 player. If that happens, there is no reason Universal couldn't monitor the holiday sales and announce Blu-ray releases at CES 2008.
Source: Hollywood in Hi-Def | Permalink	Relevant for:

ground chuck  » Aug 09, 2007
poor craig, doesn't know when to throw in the towel and stop the bleeding to make some money. maybe universal board members have private investments in hd-dud, thus keeping the war alive. so members i implore you to spread the word of blu and let's go for the kill.

E-Dogg  » Aug 09, 2007
Craig does not sound like the most intelligent person in the business, but it's his prerogative to support whom he chooses. By the end of the year he'll see the light and start to support Blu-Ray.

Crackbone  » Aug 09, 2007
Unreal. Here's to hoping that HD DVD gets smacked upside it's head this Christmas and ends this damn thing.

Coltboy  » Aug 09, 2007
Toshiba must have shelled out a lot more money than blu-ray for Universal to stay on the HD-DVD side. lol 1 million dollars.........sorry........................ 100 Billion Dollars!

erowe83  » Aug 09, 2007
If toshiba cut prices to $199, this would really hurt blu-ray. Uneducated People are dumb and will see a $200 hd player and jump all over it.

Crackbone  » Aug 09, 2007
That's my point. They'll use people's lack of knowledge or ignorance. It's low. Right now, if I were an HD DVD supporter I'd feel so used. They already know who is going to win this war.

ReduxInflux  » Aug 09, 2007
i'm sure one of those companies funneling money to universal is microsoft. because if blu-ray wins, ps3's become a whole lot more popular and xbox...well... (just one possibility) regardless, this is crazy. good for the consumer? i dont think so. how about a little less confusion. the votes have been cast. get rid of the divide and unify the market. please...

lester73  » Aug 09, 2007
Mr Kornblau should think of the people forking out for HD DVD. They're wasting their money. He may be on more than 5 figures, bit his consumers are not. If he admits HD DVD is fragile, he's ripping people off delaying the invitable. Do the right thing and save some money and your dignity!!

JTK  » Aug 09, 2007

Mind blowing stupidity. Most people know that this format war's usefulness on any level has expired. I take 300 as the most recent example to make my point. As nice as the sales figures are on that for both formats, or if you combine the totals, or whatever...the question people were asking was: What if there had been one solidified HD format in place and 300 had come out on that? It's the kind of question that really should be getting asked a lot more. Reading stuff like this really is dismaying. There really must either be some idiots working at Universal and/or they really have been paid off by MS somehow. Just ridiculous.

that1guypictures  » Aug 09, 2007

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I think on some level what Universal has done is a good thing for a poor college kid like me. I've loved to watch the prices drop on both formats...especially the PS3 price cut...that was awesome! It was easy for me to suck it up and buy a $250 HD-DVD player back when they had them at Costco for a bit, and it was just as easy for me to justify a PS3 purchase at this point. Either way, I'm still buying all my titles on Blu-Ray since it's the format to beat. But until then, I'm ok with having a good HD-DVD player for DVD upconversion, and to watch my HD-DVD's on. After this Christmas when I believe Blu-Ray will "win" the format war, and Universal decides to go neutral, I'll sell my HD-DVD player and trade in my HD-DVD discs and use that money to rebuy the titles on Blu-Ray. No big deal, it's kind of like an extended rental, only of a whole format! :-)

zany6669  » Aug 09, 2007
I was so enraged by this these comments and the cynical attitude they contained that I immediately sought out the contact section of the Universal Pictures website to voice my extreme displeasure. Anyone who wishes to do likewise can find their contact us form at the following link: http://www.universalstudios.com/homepage/html/contact_us/contact_form.cgi?email_id=9

mike_schultz  » Aug 09, 2007

Although the format war frustrates me just as much as the next person, I have to agree that it has helped drive down the overall price of the players. Good ole' capitalistic competition. I do believe that HD-DVD is making a mistake on banking on the price point. What is contingent on High Definition DVD player sales? Well, if the consumer has a HDTV to hook it up to! Albeit HDTVs are becoming more and more popular in homes throughout the world, it is not a staple in "Joe Six Pack"'s home. The target market for the 200 buck player is "Joe Six Pack"- but he is not looking right now. Blu-Ray player's price is starting to hit the price point of what an average HDTV owner would pay. So these consumers like myself, looks and says "Hmmm, for 200 bucks I can get a handful of movies. But for 500, I get a better format and much more great movies- I am going with Blu-Ray". My point to this long and rambling post is that by the time Joe Six Pack has an HDTV player, the format war will have already been decided by the current HDTV users- the ones looking for quality and selection, which is Blu-Ray.

pts  » Aug 09, 2007	Show comment Hide comment
I think we'll see when this holiday is over. Personally, I don't see how $500 Blu-ray players can compete with $200 HD DVD players.

IamNhobdy  » Aug 09, 2007

I used to just not by Universal movies/tv shows because I'm all about the blu, but this statement is gonna turn me into one of those anti-universal cats preaching boycott of all of their movies, shows, etc.. We're not sheep, we're people who's money pays thier checks each week and it's beyond stupid to piss us off and insult us. On a cost note...we still have time enough to see BD players(at least temporarily for the holidays) get their own price cut. So Toshiba/Universal can open their wounds and bleed more to get some attention, but I doubt it'll do much to entice true A/V fanatics. They're target consumer is the person who thinks that their(average) local best buy employee knows what proffesional A/V engineers know. Now let's all thank Universal for openly admitting(in not so many words) that they think we're stupid enough to nurse a format that is not only on deaths door, but whose death is continuing to be far from gracefull. Sorry for the length/tone. This just agrivates my already short fuse.

Ben  » Aug 09, 2007
zany... thanks for the link. I think it is important for all Blu-ray supporters to make use of that webform and to let Universal know exactly how they feel.

CptGreedle  » Aug 09, 2007

With the drop in prices of the PS3 and the Toshiba players, it is inevitable that the Blu-ray players will also drop in price. I am sure that HD-DVD players will reach the $200 mark sooner, but it won't be long until Blu-ray players also reach that point! I think that this is actually a good thing. Even though I will still have to wait to see universal titles until they are convinced the market is ready for them to adopt both, it is worth having the competition to drive down the prices and the raise the quality... for now. But if they continues for another full year then there really is a problem. I think we will see the change happen sometime next summer.

bluflu  » Aug 09, 2007
Sorry, Universal, I'm not buying an 8-track player just to watch your movies no matter how cheap. PS3 w/100+ BDs and counting.

ericede  » Aug 09, 2007

Although I think player price will always account for something. I also believe that consumers are going to buy a player based on the available media. Sony biggest advantage is dedicated studio support. They need to get the player price down but I don't think it needs to match HD-DVD. Most of the people I've talked to had the same reaction to HD-DVD lowering it's price on players. They all said it smelled of desperation.

haushausman  » Aug 09, 2007
They basically admit its a dead format and want to keep juicing whatever money they can so the loss it not catastrophic. Boycott of Universal for me begins now. And I suggest everyone send them something using that link above. I did already.

atdm71  » Aug 09, 2007
Following the overwhelming response of Blu-ray sales of "300", tell me, please tell me, how does any exec at Universal stand in front of shareholders and rationalize all the obviously proportionately greater amount of money they're leaving on the table only releasing on a low volume format, and still keep their job?? Tell me!

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