With the recent announcement of Blockbuster supporting Blu-ray only in 1,450 stores nationwide, HD-DVD sales appear to have slumped, according to gizmodo.com. Retailers are reporting that they are having more people cancel their orders for HD-DVD players than ever before. The reasoning behind the majority of the cancellations is due to the Blockbuster deal, claim several high street stores. Along with falling HD-DVD sales, retailers are also reporting new orders are now non-existent while Blu-ray is hard to keep on shelves.
Blockbuster has given a major blow to HD-DVD, it being the largest company in the rental department. With the decision of sticking with Blu-ray exclusively they have persuaded many consumers to do the same. Blockbuster already has Blu-ray available in 250 “test” stores and employees are reporting 70 percent of HD rentals are in Blu-ray format from both the test stores and online rentals.
Netflix and Blockbuster currently still support both HD formats through online rental, but in store rentals are still in high demand.
We’ll have more on the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD saga soon.