Microsoft reaffirms games not movies sell consoles

"We do not believe the recent reports about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360"

19 February 2008 12:09 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Just as Toshiba seemed to be a little dazed by the announcement in January that Warner Bros. was ditching HD DVD in favour of Blu-ray, Microsoft seems to be experiencing the same thing over Toshiba's announcement it is pulling the plug on HD DVD.

When asked by Pocket-lint via email as to whether or not Microsoft would be continuing to produce the HD DVD player for Xbox 360, the reply was rather cryptic:

"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."

As to whether the company would move to sell a Blu-ray player for the Xbox 360, the company has taken a similar line:

"It is premature to speculate but we do know from market data that HD movie playback is not a primary purchase driver for consumers buying video game consoles. It continues to be games that drive purchase and that has consistently been a strong point for the Xbox 360 platform."

We will keep you posted.

Full tags

Gaming, Xbox 360, Microsoft, HD DVD, Home Cinema