New York Times: Did Warner Brothers Just Kill HD DVD?

New York Times Reports:

Until now, the war between the formats has seemed like a standoff. Of the big studios, Disney, Fox and Sony have backed Blu-ray. NBC Universal and Viacom back HD DVD.

Richard Greenfield, the media analyst with Pali Research, wrote that this marks the end of the format wars: "We expect HD DVD to 'die' a quick death." He noted that NBC Universal has not committed to backing HD DVD exclusively. Viacom's studios - Paramount and Dreamworks - have an exclusive deal with the backers of HD DVD, but Mr. Greenfield wonders if there is an escape clause.

Mr. Greenfield further wonders if consumers, on hearing this news, will return their Christmas HD DVD players and exchange them for Blu-ray devices. I'm not so sure that many people pay that close attention to Hollywood. But I certainly wouldn't spend money on an HD DVD player until this all sorts out.

[mintaro]

yes, they just did

[TANOD]

BUT warners killed both HD DVD and X360's HD DVD addon

In a sense they killed 2 birds in a single shot

[v1c1ous]

i wish someone would kill your internet

[Close_Second]

...biggest bottom dweller here. I wish N4G would ban his IP and get rid of him for good.

[Boink]

that's funny

[mintaro]

microsoft's gaming division? how so

[unlimited]

The next new X-box will have a Blu-Ray Drive, you think DVD will be enough for games..When all the games right now is having trouble fitting into one disk..

Sony going to make a lot of money back. I guess they have last laugh at all the haters.. The Ps3 will see a rise in sales when people see that the system is future proof..and can play the GAMES and movies..

[Lifendz]

Major retailers stopped carrying HD-DVD, Blockbuster made an allegiance to Blu-ray, Sony already had its own studios behind their format along with Disney. And blu-ray was outselling HD-DVD on a regular basis. Whoever thought there was a chance this wasn't happening is simply delusional. The sad part is, that this new Xbox 360 ultimate is trumping it's built in HD-DVD which now looks like a dead technology.

[smitty]

Are they really still going to have a built in HD-DVD player, heheh.

[crazy25000]

they got pawned

[gamesR4fun]

ya funny how hype and twisted numbers wil only get you so far eh
Good thing its over too Id hate to have m$ win with hd downloads since we know they'll be so copyrighted it'll cost you every time you so much has read the title.

[fury]

Just give up already and stop being bullheaded...it is getting ridiculous

[General Pinky]

Time to come back

[pwnsause]

yea, you know what thats called, FIRESALE!!!!!!!11

[unsunghero28]

A $10 HD-DVD player add-on seems a liiiiitttle bit far fetched to me, considering you can't get a last-gen DVD player for that little.

Listen General, maybe it's just time we let HD-DVD die, eh? At this point its revival is nearly impossible, so the truth is that the longer this war goes on the more the consumer (the Blu-Ray owning consumer, mind you) suffers. If we're lucky this will all be over in time for an Indy 4 on Blu-Ray...

[General Pinky]

You will see..they (microsoft & Toshiba) will start selling the HD DVD Add-on for about $10..in the US & in the UK about £10
(world wide i think different prices)so that everyone that has a 360 would buy it..then blu-ray is F up...
for the nice price and the movies that are not on the Blu-ray, i know i would buy it..but hey...good news for sony..PS3 is good for something..maybe not games but movies...joking guys..
It Will be a true comeback if they do this...
Peace

[TANOD]

man i feel bad for the 300k x360 owners with HD DVD addon

[Boink]

I feel bad for your parents.

2 bubbles to go T!

[Ju]

Except, I am about to regret my "fire sale" $99 HD-DVD player purchase. And what I felt after I had bought it, was, it was a clearance. Just go out and try to find some movies. What do you think, which answer a customer would get from a sales clerk, if asked, "why the f..k is that player so da.n cheap?" - "Oh, well, they clearing that crap out now. You want one ? You could at least watch some DVDs sometimes."

[gamesR4fun]

i dont think they will and even if they did its no sure bet m8
but it would sure make things more interesting lol

[TooL 316]

well the had to end somewhere, it wonder if Microsoft if still planing to include a hd dvd in their new 360 sku.

[PStriple703]

yes

[LinuxGuru]

*POW*

That was HD-DVD's balloon bursting.

[xunderx]

for those who bought standalone hd-dvd players and feel the same for all those who bought the hd-dvd add on the 360?

[Close_Second]

...for those who picked them up over Xmas as they have been duped big time. WB would have been sitting on this decision for at least a month (or two).

[Bill Gates]

No WB did not kill HD-DVD. It was M$ who is solely responsible for killing HD-DVDead....AHAHHAHAHHAH

Think about it BABOONS. Think real hard, and put all the pieces together.

M$ used you and spat you out like a bad loogey.

[heyheyhey]

wow did you figure all that out by yourself? well done indeedy-o you must be a good newspaper

[Lionsguard]

No surprise here I mean even after a mega sale of $99 HD-DVD players with free movies by the bushel and still not seeing the scale tip by a margin in their favor then something is wrong. Go Warner!

[unlimited]

Universal will make the switch soon..and Paramount i hope they can escape from Microsoft but its their fault and should suffer for awhile..The money is with Blu-Ray..

[mintaro]

i feel bad for all those people who bought those really cheap hd-dvd players during the holiays, not gonna be able to get much use out of them

[gamesR4fun]

they do upscale dvd's maybe not has well has the ps3 but hd any hd is better than standard (if u have a hd tv)

[solar]

i have a feeling when this announcement gets out, and maybe if another big name jumps ship to Blu-Ray, ps3 sales might see another boost.

[NoxiousD]

I was so tempted to buy the HD DVD add on for my elite.... I would had been an idiot too since i already own the playstation 3 that already had blu ray. I just wanted to Transformers in HD LOL. But way to go Blu Ray!!!! I just hugged my PS3 lol and got the 360 downloading Metal Slug 3 right now. I wanna play that game so bad anyone care to join?

[DJ]

I REALLY want Transformers on Blu-ray. Sucks that I have to wait, but at least there's plenty of other titles to get.

[freakyzeeky]

Warner just stabbed HD-DVD on the back like a spy from Team Fortress 2. 8)

Blu-ray is "Still Alive"... Let's have some cake! ^__^

[solar]

and im the spy on that TF:2 team. great game, great fun :D

[J@D]

It's over, finito, acabado, sayonara, good bye... did u get the catch ^__^

[HarryEtTubMan]

The title should say... New York Times: Did Warner Brothers just increase Playstation 3 sale's 5 times more this generation?

[Rybnik]

This article here I think was the first indication that this was going to happen: http://www.n4g.com/industry...
It was no coincidence that Warners only HDDVD guy stepped down and was replaced with someone who would see things more clearly.
Also, Good job to Drtysouf
http://www.n4g.com/industry... :)

[gamehendge]

x-kiddies pwned again...but then again, thats a pretty common occurrence.

[NoxiousD]

Warner Brothers, did kill HD DVD now all Blu Ray needs is Paramount.

[m9105826]

A guy at Best Buy had my step-father buy an HDDVD player about 2 months ago. I took it back the same day and traded it in for a PS3 that same morning. The guy at the store tried to convince me sooooo hard that HDDVD was going to win out. Seriously, he lectured me for like an hour straight, telling me bold faced lies to try and get me to buy one. These people thing that no one reads up on this, but I was able to call him a liar at every turn, and eventually he went away. My step-father is really happy I talked him out of it now...

[DFresh]

Yes.
Also Sony won't allow MS to have Blu-ray technology because those are their rivals and if I know Sony well they hate competition.

[PirateThom]

Nonsense, Sony would love nothing more than to have Microsoft using Sony technology.

Every single unit sold by Microsoft means money for Sony for licencing.

[Doctor Strange]

Yeah this is pretty much the final blow. This is better for the consumers in the end.

[SIX]

with a giant Bugs Bunny foot. Glad it's..........almost.........o ver.

[SIX]

How much will Sony's PS3 benefit from this?

[Maddens Raiders]

try to hold the world ransom by not providing Windows updates (while unleashing old worms) unless everyone on planet Earth agrees to buy an HD-DVD player and at least one Paramonunt/Universal film. "Do it now or else!" (That's as far as my bunny foot will take me) lol

[Fighter]

-CES HD DVD Event canceled due to Warner announcement

-Gates delivering 360 Ultimate-um at CES? - Microsoft responds

-HD DVD Promo Group Statement on Warner Decision to Back Blu-ray

Warner just murdered HD DVD and are about to feed them to the fishes.

[hardmetal]

We did! we are the consumers, studios and bluray manufactures. In other words, THE WORLD KILLED HDDVD!

[spectyre]

High definition dvd is a very small portion of the market. The only people who buy them are the early adopters. Those early adopters also do more research on what they are buying. The only advantage to HD-DVD (to my knowledge) was the lower price point, Blue-ray has more space on the disc. The people that are buying these units have HDTVs and are willing to spend the money to get the latest and greatest rather than bargain hunting.
God I wish I could do that.

[Bubble Buddy]

they didn't kill them, they slaughtered them like kratos does to his enemies