Although the news of HD DVD finally giving up the ghost is upon us, one major player that was backing the deceased format is saying that it won’t hardly be affected at all– namely Microsoft.
The HD DVD add-on drive for the 360 was its biggest selling accessory but Microsoft still maintains that they won’t be hurting from the demise of HD DVD.
Microsoft said, "We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. As we’ve long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry."
So is Microsoft thinking about jumping ship to Blu-ray? The company is hedging its bets.
"It is premature to speculate about Blu-ray but we do know from market data that HD movie playback is not a primary purchase driver for consumers buying video game console. It continues to be games that drive purchase and that has consistently been a strong point for the Xbox 360 platform."
Regardless of what Microsoft says about Blu-ray and its Xbox 360, it is probably inevitable that the 360 will offer Blu-ray compatibility at some time in the future.
Microsoft said as much last year in March of 2007 when Senior Regional Director, Neil Thompson, of European operations said, "Whatever format wins it is highly likely we will offer a solution. The only debate is if you want to watch Blu-ray movies and pay the extra money for that feature. We prefer to offer the consumer choice."
And that choice now seems to have been whittled down to only one–Blu-ray.
[via dailytech.com]
