Think this war will ever end? Not according to Toshiba. Apparently, Toshiba knows they can't full out win the war, and they're just trying keep enough marketshare to receive at least something in royalties from disc sales.
From Pocket-Lint.Uk:
The news comes just days after Sony CEO Howard Stringer complained of a stalemate between the two formats.
"We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides", Stringer said, referring to the big news from this summer when Paramount and DreamWorks went HD DVD-only.
However Toshiba's Eves wouldn't be drawn into whether or not a dual player from the likes of Samsung and LG are a good thing. But that didn't stop one spokesman from Toshiba agreeing that he wouldn't want two boxes under his TV.
Instead he implied that consumers have got used to getting exclusives from games companies for their consoles, so why not for movies?
Sony's CEO Sir Howard Stringer made a somewhat similar comment the other day, saying:
Warner has also made similar comments:
It appears that both Warner and Sony recognize the fact that this war is starting to stalemate, yet neither wants a dual-format world. As Warner said above, they are in a position to decide this war, so they will probably go exclusive one way or another before long. I personally believe that going Blu exclusive would be the only way to end anything. If they went HD exclusive, the studio support would be even more even, with it being 4 studios vs 3 (Sony, Disney, Fox, and Lionsgate vs Universal, Paramount, and Warner), and this war would only drag oneven further.
If Warner went with Toshiba, it would only ensure the dual format world that Toshiba currently envisions, and they'd inevitably want to produce two versions of each movie anyway. However, if they Went Blu exclusive, Blu-Ray would have 5 major studios exclusively supporting the format, and it would ensure victory, leading to a one format world.
I don't want multiple formats. I hope Warner goes Blu exclusive in early '08 so all of this could end.