Warner Bros. started the year off with a bang as they announced that in several months, they will be ditching the use of HD DVD and instead release movies exclusively on Blu-ray. You can just imagine the uproar that this announcement caused – and is actually still causing!
Here are snippets of their press release, if you have not read it already:
In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
“Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want,” said Meyer. “The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers.”
Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.
Being the Sony fan that I am, I actually happy with the turn of events. However, I cannot help but wonder – is it really a response to consumer demand? 😉