Before the end of the year, Blu-ray will have nailed the HD DVD coffin shut, at least if we’re to believe analysts at Gartner. The company has commented on the price cuts issued by HD DVD in USA and says that they are more or less pointless. They do say that this might prolong the life expectancy of HD DVD, but it won’t change the outcome. Blu-ray will become the next generation optical format. The reason is suppose to be the great support from the American movie studios, where five out of seven studios are Blu-ray exclusive.
This severely limits the amount of movies on HD DVD and Gartner believes that this will be the decisive factor, and that the battle will be over before the end of the year. Even if the HD DVD party still has some strong allies, for example Microsoft, it’s not looking good. The last thing Microsoft wants is to support Blu-ray, as it is one of the big attractions of Sony’s PlayStation 3, and we can only assume that Microsoft will be doing everything it can to prevent the suggested outcome.
