BDA: 2.7 million Blu-ray Players Sold

Counting standalone players and the PS3, a total of 2.7 million Blu-ray players have now been sold through to consumers.

That's the word from the Blu-ray Disc Association, in what seems to be a clear response to the HD DVD camp's recent announcement that it had sold over 750,000 "dedicated" players (including standalones and the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on).

That earlier report from the HD DVD camp sparked outrage from Blu-ray supporters, who complained that HD DVD backers were for the first time including sales of the Xbox HD DVD add-on in their numbers to create the artificial impression of a Black Friday sales surge for the format.

In its new announcement, the BDA fights fire with fire, counting both standalone Blu-ray players and the Playstation 3 to come up with a staggering 2.7 million units sold through Black Friday.

Neither group broke out individual sales numbers for standalone players and console-based players.

The BDA went on to tout recently-released Nielsen VideoScan numbers, which gave Blu-ray a resounding lead in software sales Thanksgiving week, boasting 72.6% of all discs sold (compared to 27.4% for HD DVD).

In a statement, the group said, "Despite the $99 HD DVD fire sale, Blu-ray movies were flying off the shelves in this crucial holiday shopping period."

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