Sony has announced the very first Blu-ray Disc production facility in the southern hemisphere will open here in New South Wales.
According to Sony, “the opening of a new, multi-million dollar Sony DADC Blu-ray Disc plant in Huntingwood, New South Wales… will mark a significant milestone in the adoption of the storage format, reflecting the continued growth in consumer confidence and demand for Blu-ray content, with disc production beginning in Australia for the very first time.”
The new plant includes three Blu-ray lines; one dedicated solely to the production of PS3 games and two for movie and other content, with a production capacity between them of 12 million discs per year.
By comparison, 3.5 million PS3 games have been sold in Australia in the two-plus years since launch, meaning that the approximately 4 million PS3 discs produced by the new plant per year will service far more than just this country.
A clearly pleased Michael Ephraim, Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia and New Zealand, said, “Australian consumers are already adopting Blu-ray faster than DVD, pushing Australia forward as one of the global leaders of the format growth, with the third highest per capita attachment rate behind the USA and UK. Research shows that as a brand, Sony is by far the most associated with Blu-ray technology, leading the market. The opening of this local production plant should send a clear message to consumers that Blu-ray is now a permanent fixture on the format landscape and that their investment in Blu-ray hardware will be relevant for many years to come.”
Don’t expect this to change the current pricing of PS3 games and Blu-ray movies, however.
T-Rocket
June 11, 2009 at 11:55 AM
If it doesn’t change the price of PS3 games or Blu-ray movies then why should I care ?
Report PermalinkAndrew Mills
June 11, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Good for jobs at least, nice to see something opening instead of closing for a change.
Report PermalinkScott Vandonkelaar
June 11, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Note to self: Find Huntingwood, increase lock picking skills.
Hehehehe. Yeah, job wise it’s a great move but otherwise it doesn’t sound like it will benefit us gaming-wise. But who knows.
Report PermalinkNicholas
June 11, 2009 at 12:59 PM
Yay! My games will change from having ‘Made in Austria’ to ‘Made in Australia’ on them, to match the cases they come in.
Report PermalinkfORS4kEN
June 11, 2009 at 1:25 PM
What ever Sony you money hungry pigs
Report Permalinkx Plug N Die
June 12, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Boo hoo get over it, if you guys wanna be cheapskates dont buy the blu ray or games so simple
Report PermalinkPaul Down
June 11, 2009 at 3:05 PM
I think it’ll be great for my neck of the woods, hopefully it’ll just bring shipping costs down to shops.
Report PermalinkKorwin
June 12, 2009 at 7:42 AM
Cool, Jobs.
Report Permalinkbazuden
June 13, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Jobs for robots, on production lines. There wouldn’t be much for old fashioned humans to do in a disc processing plant these days, would there?
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