Format War: Random Thoughts

In the last few weeks the HD Format wars has been won and the victor is Bluray. However, after looking back on the format wars its been a bit stranger than what I would have expected. In general I can't remember the last time a format war was decided by pretty much everything but the consumers. Based on average sales of HD DVD versus Bluray discs it was pretty obvious that most people were put off by the initial high cost and really don't care much about high definition content (yet). So instead of keeping this hype war going, the Bluray group felt it necessary to kill off the most direct competition and hope the market falls in line. Which would be a brilliant decision 10 years ago when DVD's didn't own the market and there are no other forms of media competing for the space. Now Bluray faces stiff competition from digital distribution and an incumbent format that still seems very adequate for the time being. So it's possible to make a case that Bluray has ended one format war to enter a new one with much more formidable competitors. Maybe Bluray's victory over HD DVD is one of many it will have to continue to win in order to stay relevant. We live in an age where an entire generation is downloading to entertain themselves. Where the older generation is heavily invested in an older disc format that isn't obsolete yet. Just a thought but to me this war isn't over yet.