Sony CEO Plays Down Blu-ray, HD DVD Battle

Sony CEO and Chairman Howard Stringer has heavily played down the importance of the next-gen DVD format war.


"It doesn't mean as much as all that," Stringer said of the format war, which has pitted the Sony supported Blu-ray format against the Toshiba and Microsoft backed HD-DVD format. Stringer said he felt it had become more of a matter of prestige whose format triumphs.

According to an Associated Press report, Stringer, speaking at the 92nd Street Y cultural center in Manhattan, did say that Sony was nevertheless still vying for Blu-ray supremacy, adding that the two opposing camps were currently locked in a “stalemate”.

"It's a difficult fight," he said. "We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides."

Stringer also noted that there had been an opportunity to unite the two camps before he became CEO, and that he wished he could travel back in time to make it happen.

However, Stringer was more positive about the prospects of Sony’s Blu-ray equipped PlayStation 3. "We are coming back up again," he said, noting that the PlayStation 3 had become the best-selling console in Europe following a recent price cut, while a similar price cut in the US had doubled sales.



News-Source: Next-Gen