According to early market data sourced by the Blu-ray Disc Association, the PlayStation 3 gaming console has given a significant boost to Blu-ray Disc movies in Europe and Japan outselling its rival HD DVD 3 to 1. Prior to the console launch on March 23, HD DVD was outselling Blu-ray discs on a weekly basis.
Up until the PS3's launch on 23 March, HD DVD was comfortably outselling Blu-ray discs. However, in the week after PS3 was launched in Europe, Blu-ray discs accounted for almost 87% of all HD disc sales.
In the latest week that the figures report, Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVDs by a factor of more than three to one. This means that despite the PS3 being available for only one month of this four-month period, Blu-ray software sales account for over 64% of the total volume since the start of the year.
While top executives from Blu-ray exclusive studios have claimed that there is no format war because of how well Blu-ray is selling outside of the United States, HD movies is still a small niche market that could easily turn either side, with the PS3's relatively low sales and expensive Blu-ray hardware, one of the main reasons a format will win over another is content.