“Microsoft said it will stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 video game system after Toshiba ceded the high-definition video format battle to Sony’s Blu-ray,” The Associated Press reports.
“Microsoft said Saturday it would continue to provide standard warranty support for its HD DVD players,” AP reports. “Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida last week estimated about 300,000 people own the Microsoft video player, sold as a separate US$130 add-on for the Xbox 360.”
“Microsoft was one of HD DVD’s main backers, along with Intel and Japanese electronics maker NEC, and its support for the format was seen as a big win for Toshiba’s format,” AP reports. “But support for the HD DVD waned as major movie studios — Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment — picked Blu-ray to distribute high-def DVDs. Wal-Mart Stores struck what seemed to be the final blow just over a week ago when it said it would only sell Blu-ray players and discs.”
“The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said the decision to stop selling HD DVD players won’t have a material impact on its video game business,” AP reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JadisOne” for the heads up.]
So, supposedly, HD DVD’s death won’t hurt Microsoft, but what about your customers who’re stuck with obsolete HD disc players? Oh, right, they’re screwed again; par for the course! “300,000 suckers at $130 a pop! Next, we’ll sell ’em Blu-ray replacements!” – that’s sure to generate some more laughs over cocktails during executive lunches up in Redmond.
Ah, the wonderful, vitriolic comments. Makes me glad to be a part of the Mac community. (kidding)
The last line of the story is true:
“The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said the decision to stop selling HD DVD players won’t have a material impact on its video game business,” AP reports.
I own an Xbox 360 and it’s been a GREAT gaming system, in spite of the Red-Ring-Of-Death problem I had just got fixed last month. Also, I am not one of the 300,000 people who purchased the HD-DVD add-on, but honestly, $130 is not that much of loss anyway.
Waiting to hear:
Microsoft pulls the plug, period.
.
.
.
………and then everything was well in the Shire.
@MDN Take
Oh, right, they’re screwed again; par for the course!
The first time I read that I parsed the last word as carousel with the exclamation! mark! at! the! end!
Seems to me carousel is more appropriate
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What’s even more shocking is that there was so LITTLE sell-thru with the Xbox HD-DVD player. MS says they have shipped 17 million Xbox 360s, and only 300,000 bought the accessory player? That’s less than 0.2% of their buyers bought the HD-DVD player. Perhaps, they’re not so stupid after all?
Once again, a partnership with MS has ended in business disaster.
> What’s even more shocking is that there was so LITTLE sell-thru with the Xbox HD-DVD player.
That just shows that HD media on physical disk is not that desirable, whether the format is HD DVD or Blu-ray. Having one choice now will not make it any more desirable.
There was a significant advantage to DVD or over VHS tapes. But DVD is good enough for most people, so customers will not be in any great hurry to replace existing DVD players. By the time Blu-ray players become cheap enough to be the default “DVD” player, HD content through online sources will be more prevalent.