Two things that have always had an impact on sales of Blu-ray and HD-DVD players are video games and porn. With so many people purchasing high-def content for both "vices," will Blu-ray see a sales boost for backing porn in Japan?
Digital Journal — The battle between the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps has been fierce recently, with
Target getting Blu-ray players for the holidays;
Blockbuster siding with Blu-ray in its stores; and
Microsoft dropping the price of its Xbox 360 HD-DVD player.
But one factor that often plays a big role in helping to decide a winner in a format war is porn, and Sony knows it. Whether you like the idea of porn thrusting sales forward or not, it's a fact that helped VHS come out on top in the Beta/VHS war of yesteryear.
According to PC World, Japanese porn producers have turned to the Blu-ray format exclusively.
Claiming the victory in Japan is important for Sony, as the company lost miserably to HD DVD in the North American porn industry. HD DVD is cheaper to mass produce and the players are less expensive. PC World also reported the adult industry in North America even received support from the likes of Microsoft, a key player with Toshiba on the HD DVD team.
In North America, Sony lost the opportunity to make it big in the porn biz. One reason, believe it or not, is Disney; as one of the largest movie makers on the planet Disney has a policy of not working with companies who work with adult titles (likely a fundamental reason would be the PR nightmare if a porn movie was accidentally labelled as Bambi and shipped to kids across America). Sony chose to go with the family-friendly movies of Disney and not the lucrative porn business, so the company forbid its pressing facilities from stamping adult movies.
But in Japan, Sony seems to be playing smarter. The company has reportedly found a way around the taboo issue; Japanese porn producers have started working with disc-pressing firms in Taiwan and Sony is selling to the Taiwanese companies.
Kiyotaka Konno, director of administration at Assist Corp., a Japanese company that authors and replicates DVDs for the adult industry in Japan, told PC World:
In Japan, there are some problems. Companies cannot press Blu-ray discs because they cannot touch adult-related contracts. So we asked some makers in Taiwan to do the work, and then we import the discs back to Japan. The Taiwanese company was able to obtain a pressing machine from Sony and will start mass production in August.
By selling discs and support to the disc-pressing firms, Sony stays out of the direct connection to the porn industry while still reaping the profits. Someone at Sony was smart. Give him or her a raise.
Sony says it maintains its stance on working with the adult film industry, but a spokeswoman told PC World the company is "offering technical support to any film makers looking for help, no matter what industry."
While that makes no sense and seems to contradict itself, it will be interesting to see if Sony could jeopardize its relationship with Disney in North America because of it's porn support in Japan.
Then again, if both Blu-ray and HD DVD are supporting porn, Disney might not have a choice but to chop its company policy. After all, Disney is a business, and it cant' afford to watch its sales go limp because of porn.
