Games Industry Wire

Toshiba Concedes HD-DVD Defeat

by Kiven on February 19th, 2008

Toshiba today has announced it will discontinue support for its HD-DVD technology. A series of blows has dented the high-definition DVD format in recent weeks: Warner Bros. being the most recent major film studio to pledge its allegiance to rivals Blu-ray and US supermarket giant Wal-Mart ceasing to stock HD-DVD.

Following such moves, Toshiba has announced that promotion for the technology will now come to an end and shipments of players and recorders will wind down, the business looking to close by the end of the month. Speaking to the BBC, Toshiba president Atsutoshi Nishida said, “We concluded that a swift decision would be best.”

Following HD-DVD’s fleeting lifespan, analysts have praised the decision to discontinue, ultimately citing the news as a triumph for the consumer, no longer needing to gamble on a losing format, and for Toshiba, now able to concentrate on pioneering in other areas. This optimism has been reflected in the share price of the electronics company, rising by 5.7% yesterday.

Whilst the news is clearly a massive boon for Sony, with its PlayStation 3 built around Blu-ray support, Microsoft – who had been backing HD-DVD – yesterday made a statement claiming the fall of the format would not impact in any significant way the Xbox 360.

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POSTED IN: 'Wire' Reports, Business Deals, XBox 360