Toshiba yields to format war; HD DVD businesses to stop operations by March |
All rumors regarding HD DVD ends today and it seems that the speculations were all true after all. Toshiba has sent QJ.NET a press release informing us that it will begin to discontinue its HD DVD businesses.Prior to this, the company refused to affirm all the rumors and mentioned that it is still currently assessing the situation. There was also a rumor that Microsoft's Xbox 360, a supporter of the format, will finally go to the Blu-ray side as well.
Here is the exact statements from Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation:
We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop.
While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.
However, he clarified in a separate Q&A that although they will cease the production of HD DVD, that does not mean they will be jumping aboard the Blu-ray ship.
Toshiba then went on and said that supplies and shipments of HD DVD recorders and players will begin to dwindle by the end of March 2008. The company added:
Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements.
Microsoft, lastly, has yet to comment on this development. Just keep checking back here at QJ.NEt for future developments.
UPDATE: Moments after the announcement, Toshiba President Nishida answered a couple of questions thrown by the press regarding their business move. He said that business was doing great until December of last year.
It should be remembered that it was during this time when major film studios began showing support for the rival format Blu-ray. Speaking of the competition, Nishida reiterated that they will not be supporting the rival camp.
Instead, the president mentioned that they will be focusing their business to other things. Nishida explained:
3D NAND is a possible candidate, but just one of them. To avoid any confusion, we cannot say which next-gen memory technology Toshiba will choose to pursue. Nothing is final.
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Comments [refresh]
Thats good for people looking to buy a HD Movie player, since there is really only the one option now.
It kinda sucks for people already with HD-DVD stuff though.
I'm glad I have no HD optical disc products yet
That there is only one Hi-Def format now. Time to start saving up for a PS3 and tons of Blu-Ray movies!
And games of course
If PC games will ever use bluray in the future
I'd think so, since pc games have been on cd and dvd, blurays just the next step.
finally over... so tired of these stupid topics taking up all the real gaming news. Maybe quixand will get back to running his subways now.
Blu-ray and HD-DVD were basically pushed because of the recent, rapid jump to HD television which requires streaming video of large sizes
with pc games turning away from prerendered videos, the need for such a huge, STREAMING source deminishes
will it happen in the future? probably, but we may have a new content delivery system altogether by then
the end of the xbox console is sooner then we thought
You are a moron if you think this will kill the Xbox. All this means is that the next generation Xbox(720?) will have a blu-ray drive in it. Like I said, you are a moron.
If you haven't go ahead and enjoy this hilarious video regarding HD format war!
http://mivadika.com/forum/other/1911-its-official-hd-dvd-dead-format-over.html
Actually, when you look back on this, it's MS who made the best decision by not betting everything on one of the formats. Can you imagine what would've happened to Sony if BD failed?
Microsoft really didn't lose anything on this, aside from a few millions they gave companies to support HD-DVD. Unlike Sony and BD, MS does not have a large stake in HD-DVD, and did not spend much of anything developing it, Toshiba did.
As for the HD-DVD add-on, the technology and specs were already there, MS simply put it in a stylized case with USB connectivity. So they really didn't lose anything there either.
MS really isn't affected negatively by this at all, now that BD has won they will simply put out a BD add-on.
Sony had nothing to loose if Blu-Ray failed. Even if they did, they still could use the discs for their games, and that is more than enough.
Take the PSP for example... their mini-disc SUCKS, but it can still be used for games.
Think about what you just said. The next Xbox will have a blu-ray drive built in? Who is the real loser here, the people that bought the ps3 knowing it was future proof for at least 5 years(maybe even more), or the people who bought the xbox and now just a few years later have a new system coming out with a new disc drive that they cant take advantage of unless they buy an entirely new system? By that time Sony and its developers will be so far ahead you'll be left in the dust. It's even worse for the people who actually bought the HD DVD add on, talk about a slap in the face and utter waste of money. Oh well xbots will be xbots.
When most people say a few, they mean four, the 360 released in 2005 and the next Xbox is not coming out in 2009, probably not in 2010 for that matter. If it keeps momentum, or at least stays strong, which it looks like it will, I wouldn't expect the next Xbox until AT LEAST 2010, more likely 2011 and possibly even 2012. That's a 5-7 year lifespan, which is the norm, and the lifespan the PS2 had. So I would expect a new PS day and date with the new Xbox. Anybody who believed Sony (or still does) when they said the whole "10 year PS3 lifespan" thing is a dolt.
To theaceoffire, Sony actually lost quite a bit of money on the failure of UMD as a movie format, and they were not in good shape financially when this whole thing started, with some analysts predicting that if things didn't change drastically for Sony they may go under, out of business by 2012. If BD and, God forbid, the PS3, had failed, they quite possibly could have. They had a LOT riding on it, too much really, but it worked out for them. Which is a good thing, because anyone can imagine what a console market that MS dominates would look like.
What the hell are you talking about? Sony knew what they were doing first hand putting this technology in the PS3.
Sure it was a new format but its specs are mind blowing especially how huge the discs can get, while HD-DVD couldn't handle it, a dual layered HD dics was was 26, a 4 layered is 52, while Blu-ray is 100.
And come on now, Sony is the king of the gaming industry, they have sold more money on the consoles and Games combined to be number 1 in the industry they are like MS(Windows and PCs) in the gaming industry. Dominance, without the monopolizing everything.
And this is just going to further increase sales for PS3, hell with this format war over, Home and In-game XMB and with the games this year coming out, The PS3 is n its way to selling over 10 million consoles worldwide this year.
Thats scary, and FF games sells 12 million consoles alone. Now you see who is the genius.
PS3 is going to wipe the floor with Ninty and MS now, im not being a fanboy here its the truth, this is Sony year And this can be changing point in the Console war now.
Even if MS adds a Blu-ray Add on its going to cost at least $200, and its going to be for Movies only, the PS3 has it for both. And not alot of people are going to get it for that price, hell i bet only 50,000 people will actually get the add-on. which is 3% percent of all 360 owners, pretty bad. Either way you look at it, the PS3 is the cheaper Blu-ray system, and most likely they will end up getting that Blu-ray player further adding to the killer year for the PS3. The PS3 has the biggest advantage out of all of the consoles this year.
While sharkthegreat sounded like a fanboy with nothing to back up why, he is ultimately right. The 360 could end ending quite. Soon.
what will microsoft do about games if toshiba owns hd dvd