End of HD-DVD could see PS3 sales soar

Over the past few months a number of retailers have been announcing plans to remove HD-DVD’s from their shelves as they announced Sony’s Blu-Ray as the next-generation winner. One of the UK’s biggest annoucements in recent weeks was that of Woolworths but now US giants such as Wal-Mart have also decided to ditch HD-DVD.

Today, Toshiba announced that HD-DVD’s would cease manufacture

“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.”

The impact on Sony has been massive.

Experts believe that due to this next-gen format victory, the PS3 will shift an extra 1 million units in the next 9 months.

In the UK alone an estimated 5 million more homes are expected to have High Definition TV’s by the end of the year and retailers will be using Blu-Ray to push these sales. The cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market? That’s right – the PlayStation 3.

Microsoft’s XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii are now both clearly games machines. The PS3 is the next generation entertainment system.

Despite their late entry in to this war – Sony looks set to have pulled off another masterstroke.