Digital hi-def content more important than Blu-ray - Mattrick
Microsoft exec questions long-term value of disc-based format
Consumers want their high-definition content delivered digitally rather than on a Blu-ray disc, according to Microsoft's Don Mattrick.
The senior VP of interactive entertainment for Microsoft believes that instant access to movies via streaming technology and cheaper prices than traditional boxed retail products make the format much more appealing.
"I think that what people want is digital high-def content, I think that's what our box provides, and we've announced several movie partners - and one in particular, Netflix, for the streaming technology," said Mattrick, to Eurogamer.net.
"People love being able to download and interact instantaneously with high-def content. I don't have to go somewhere, I don't have to buy a disc, I don't have to pay a 12-14 dollar or 6-7 pound premium to do that. I don't have to have my face be two feet in front of my TV to see the difference."
Microsoft recently went head-to-head with rival Sony by backing HD-DVD movies rather than Blu-ray, but within months Blu-ray technology won out, leaving Micorsoft to ditch its HD-DVD movie peripheral for the Xbox 360.
Sony has always said that the Blu-ray format is crucial for the PlayStation 3, not just to play the next-generation of movies, but as storage for larger, more ambitious videogames.
But Mattrick doesn't see the storage medium as important, and he questioned whether there are enough consumers willing to purchase movies on a new disc format in the long-term.
"When you put it all through, it's an interesting PR war that Sony's fighting with that front. I'm not convinced it's going to be a driver of sales," he offered.
"I think it's going to take a long time to get to even 10 percent of DVD volume, and I think consumers are going to say, 'interesting format', there's going to be some early adopters of it who are going to think it's important, and there's going to be a bunch of people who say, 'You know what? I'm quite happy with what I've got on DVD, I'm quite happy with my movie library, I'm quite happy not paying 6-7 pounds incremental per movie, I'm quite aware that I watch a movie once, maybe twice, but it doesn't have the same utility as games,' and I think high-def and digital are more interesting forces of change in our space than the format of storage."