HD DVD is on death row.
Now that’s a rather bold statement, but the United State’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has just announced that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores will now be carrying Blu-ray products exclusively.
They will phase out HD DVD over the next several months, attempting to sell their remaining stock, while carrying Blu-ray movies and hardware machines on the gained shelf space.
"We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," said Gary Severson, Senior V.P., Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S. "With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home."
The Warner Bros. announcement has had quite the impact on the outcome of the format war, with Wal-Mart being one of many recent companies (Best Buy, Netflix) to announce Blu-ray as either their favored or exclusive format.
It seems only a matter of time now until HD DVD officially drops out of the race. Recent rumors have indicated that Toshiba will surrender and move to Sony’s dominant Blu-ray format soon. We’ll keep you updated.