Sony, Microsoft In Talks Over Blu-Ray
Yes, it's true. According to The Financial Times, all three companies (Apple is included) are in talks to include Blu-Ray drives in the their devices. Of course, the story here lies with Microsoft. Speculation has run rampant that Microsoft has been seeking to put a Blu-Ray drive inside of the Xbox 360 since the fall of HD-DVD. Such a maneuver would make it more competitive against the PlayStation 3 and would likely raise its cost.
On the other hand, Sony would get a revenue boost from Microsoft for installing the drives in their systems. It's an interesting deal and I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. I think that it's only a matter of time before we see a new "premium" model Xbox 360 with a Blu-Ray drive in it. What do you think?
Sony, Microsoft Discuss Blu-Ray for Xbox 360 [Financial Times, registration may be required]
[via EvilAvatar]
Super Timsy
Posted to Video Games on 6 March 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: blu-ray, microsoft, sony, xbox 360
Ugh, guess if I want an affordable 360, I better get it before they install the blue-ray.
Damn Sony and their blue-ray format.
What i think is microsoft and sony have to stop making new damned Skus.
eh, more likely they will just have an add-on like the hd-dvd drive. In the end, microsoft is still the big winner. They made money on both formats.
Just like to point out that the talks would be with some devision of Sony other than Sony Computer Entertainment. I think the different devisions might even compete against one another. So SCE might take this as bad news.
There is no way there will be a Blu-ray drive IN a 360. At most, there may be an add-on.
If you think about the bottom line, Microsoft doesn't stand to profit very much from a Blu-ray add-on. Sony would be the big winner as they stand to profit from each drive sold, both from a hardware cut and from the Blu-ray discs users will buy. How would Microsoft profit from it? By marking up the add-on purchase price up at retail.
So if an add-on Blu-ray happened, it would line Sony's pockets a hell of a lot more than Microsoft's. Between you and I, I don't really see Microsoft going out of there way too much to make Sony more money.
The only way I see this happening is if Microsoft responds to some sort of public outcry for Blu-ray support and even then, it's definitely not going to be cheap.
But as for seeing a 360 with a built-in Blu-ray? That won't happen. I'll bet my sack on it.
ALSO -- Microsoft doesn't only make Xboxes. Remember Windows? "Microsoft in talks with Sony" doesn't necessarily they are talking about Blu-ray in a console. They could be planning native support in Windows PCs and laptops.