Freedom Gate Co.
HD-DVD was the superior format in almost every way and every way it wasn't could be solved with an update, including size. The only one thing that SOME argue is a pure advantage was the covering on Blu-ray discs, damage protection wise. But otherwise HD-DVD was faster, more relatable to DVD, cheaper, and was interactive compatible. The latter of which Blu-Ray had limited features for.
No, it was not, this is storage we are talking here, more capacity wins, better durability wins, it's as simple as that.....
1. Blu-Ray started video game installs. No longer was it as simple as reading from the disc, parts of your game, or all of your game, had to be installed to the hard drive more and more.
Installs was always coming, bluray or not....It's the same way disc-platter discs will soon go the way of the dodo, things evolve and change....Do you think people would continue to want to juggle a million discs or be limited by portable disc read speeds, at any new optical medium's inception? On PS2 you had multi-disc games, on PS3 you had some of the bigger games utilizing DL BD......so bluray was definitely necessary then, especially with games utilizing high end audio, several language files etc.....Right now graphical fidelity is on the rise, in game cutscenes are pretty much the standard and we're seeing less of CG movies, but people still prefer their games to load fast, and games do load faster off an HDD or SSD over an optical disc.....Hence why I want the faster drive format in new consoles......
Sony always gauge where they're at and what they need to run their games and they pack in hardware to conform, most of their first party games are below 50Gb, some outliers obviously, but they knew they would be good with DL BD, since games would be installed, so they focused on quick installs...Digital is also on the rise, and so is streaming, so it makes sense to focus on SSD's for the future and higher capacities as opposed to just pushing optical media on consoles...Yet Sony pushed optical media, when it was needed....the shift now is for faster and higher capacity drives, digital downloads and streaming.....You can't download your games to Bluray discs can you, so it makes sense to evolve.....All these decisions were/are relevant based on the generation....You make decisions based on how things are trending/changing...and adapt..
2. Blu-Ray is responsible for the fast and complete eradication of owning the video games you brought. Blu-Ray was great for DRM and other features that made it easier to use the DISC more as an authentication measure than a physical product. Which moved the industry to buying "licenses" instead of Consumers owning games. Once those few court cases settled things changed for the worst.
Understand business, there was alot of pirating PS2 games, do you remember that, of course the manufacturer is going to protect it's business. PC? let's not even go there, Steam was inevitable...Is any body complaining about Steam, When was the last time you put in a disc to play a Steam game...The same for movies, music etc....Piracy was a major issue in the 90's to the mid 2000's...Let's not only look at things in a vacuum....There were/are reasons why there's software protection and anti-piracy mechanisms....
3. Blu-Ray discs were slow to drop in price as well as the technology running them. This kept the prices of consoles that use it, and the games, from dropping in price. Analysts show that games could have been $50 new and with quicker price drops due to the lower prices of HD-DVD in 2009.
HDDVD was cheaper because it was cheaper to produce, it had less capacity, it had less durability and security mechanisms.....It sold less compared to bluray, so of course it will be cheaper. If there's less demand for a product it's always discounted, it's how this works, check how XBOX-ONE is always discounted as an e.g...and FYI, most of the blurays in my library I got for $10 or less, Transformers, Troy, 300, Baraka, Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy set etc. etc...
4. Load times for games got worse instead of better. Especially since early Blu-Ray lasers were not very stable under extreme use.
Load times under Optical Disc Media was never it's selling point, capacity was....That's why cartridges was better for loadtimes, but at the expense to lower quality audio, less CG movies etc....In the earlier gens, I think higher capacity optical made sense.....DVD was greater than CD in the PS2 era, Bluray was greater than DVD in the PS3 era, this gen, faster capacity harddrives, quick installs and extended storage is superior over optical media this gen, especially with the rise of digital downloads and the fact that all games must be installed on the disc anyway.....I don't agree that you need an internet connection to play your disc games though...
5. Blu-Ray never really took off after the "war" ended. DVD handily smacked it around. Pushes for PC blu-ray drives cratered, Blu-Ray Laser for scanning and media transfer equipment also faltered. This aided not only point #3, but also caused game development prices to rise. Some people forget how much money some third-party devs like THQ, Square, etc spend on game development tools to take advantage of Blu-ray capabilities. The fact that it wasn't replacing DVD and many plans were scrapped that would increase demand, made it so that the prices of these tools also never really dropped. In fact over time it INCREASED.
Where is DVD now? I don't even have movies on DVD anymore, Black Hawk Down, Fifth Element is best on bluray....Bluray made many upgrade their audio equipment and it was well worth it....That 7.1 lossless audio just pops and don't talk about the games that used it.....Resistance FOM is still one of the best games I've played on my 7.1 HT...
6. 4K Blu-Ray offered very few fixes to many fixable problems. The only thing 4KBR was designed for was an increase in resolution and asset compatibility. The BR council did not think that their new revision should have included fixes, even though Panasonic had partnered with 4 other board members to discuss fixes. Nothing ever came of those meetings, no one even leaked what the final result was. But whatever it was, it led to 4K Blu-Ray basically having all the same issues.
4K bluray was less sucessful because, everyone and their grandmas are streaming now, netflix, hulu, hbo, showtime, crackle, amazon.....They offer 4k streams too, obviously it's not the same quality as the physical disc, but it's pretty slick looking..... Moreover, 4k movie adoption was not ripe for mass penetration this gen since 4k tv's were still at it's infancy in 2013, consoles were 1080p spec too.....Even now, 4k tv adoption is inching to 30%, with a forecast for 50% in the US by the end of 2019.....so by 2020, when our consoles are actual 4k gaming consoles, it will make more sense to offer 4k bluray playback.....Ding Ding, it just makes sense to offer 4k bluray playback, when the majority will have a tv capable of viewing 4k movies....So here's the dilemma with UHD movies not selling well, because 4k TV adoption was not there yet....FYI, I had a 1080p TV for the entirety of the PS3 generation, so I actually bought and watched a few blurays....
7. Lastly, Blu-Ray has caused the rise in 4K asset creation for CG due to rising costs and the fact many movie and game studios distribute primarily on Blu-Ray. This mean that pretty much every industry employing CG in their products and uses BR as the main distribution platform are fighting off rising costs. This is why you're starting to see more outsourcing for cutscenes and other assets that would originally be done in house. Contractors however are asking for more money due to rising prices, and eventually everything is going to collapse into itself as we already have reached and passed the point of un-sustainability
CG, is just not big anymore, right now, in game assets are pretty impressive visually, anti-aliasing is much better and higher resolutions boosts IQ up even more.....So in game-cutscenes is always preferred and bodes better for BC and remasters, which offer higher resolutions and upticks on older gamers....So you should expect less CG next gen....Look at this gen and how so many times you hear tech guys or even gamers say how CG looking a game is....It's because rez, asset quality, textures, AF and AA has improved quite a bit from prior gens, where prior to now, devs needed the high budget CG to give them that visual splendor, now we're seeing great visuals almost on par in-game...Next gen, expect that to improve ten fold, with better AA, improved TAA, HRAA etc..couple that with less low rez effects, less shoddy shadows, less AF issues and artefacting...In game assets and quality next gen should be all you need...and should be pretty mindblowing visually....
Due to trying to make profit due to rising costs, and trying to keep contracts in check, most attempts to replace BR with another format has failed. I take it next gen will still be Blu-ray with more rising costs. In hindsight Blu-Ray was one of the biggest mistakes. But especially for video games, and how fast it changed things.
BD will thrive next gen, BDXL will be in, Many MS games are already hitting 100Gb plus, Quantum Break is just insane.....So it makes sense to offer a disc that will hold the game before you transfer it to your hdd, for better loading etc.....All games will have high end textures, better audio, multiple languages etc...so it makes sense to offer 128 BD or even 256 BD.....More persons will buy UHD discs because more will have 4k sets, but streaming will still outclass bluray sales, notwithstanding, streaming quality will improve just the same....across games, movies music.....