Another Stab In The Format Wars

Rental chain Blockbuster has made a deciding swing in favour of Blu-ray in the format wars.

Major rental chain Blockbuster seems to think it has a deciding say in the format wars with their senior vice president of merchandising Matthew Smith declaring that beginning next month, 1,450 stores will stock Blu-ray titles only from the high definition field of media.

This is potentially a stab against HD-DVD in its long battle to reign supreme as the dominant high-definition format. Previously, Blockbuster in North America has been stocking both Blu-ray and HD-DVD titles for rental in 250 stores.

“The consumers are sending us a message. I can’t ignore what I’m seeing,” Matthew Smith said in talking to The Associated Press. “When you walk into a store and see all this product available in Blu-ray and there is less available on HD DVD, I think the consumer gets that.”

The original 250 stores will continue to rent out both HD-DVD and Blu-ray titles.