Woolworths drops HD-DVD sales from its shops

There’s no denying that Blu-Ray is indeed emerging (or has already emerged, as some like to believe) as the market leader in the format wars. Further affirming this belief is the recent announcement that the retail chain Woolworths will no longer be selling HD-DVD movies in their stores by March this year. Head on over to the full article for more details.

A rumor has been circulating on the net that Woolworths will be dropping HD-DVD. Well, it has been confirmed that the retailer will no longer be selling HD-DVD movies in by March this year.

Although they will continue to sell HD-DVD movies online, this might be a major blow to the HD-DVD camp considering Woolworths is said to be the biggest retailer of the new DVD formats in the UK.

The company pointed out that this decision was made after Blu-Ray discs outsold HD-DVD by a ratio of ten-to one over the last holiday season. A feat that some have attributed to the popularity of the Sony PlayStation 3.

Euro assistant general manager of Toshiba‘s Consumer Products division Oliver Van Wynendaele believes this isn’t the case saying that this move by Woolworths was very disappointing and that the HD-DVD format is still as strong as ever:

While we’re disappointed by Woolworths’ decision, it is extremely early to spot which format will eventually win. We have been hugely successful in expanding the number of consumers owning HD-DVD players.

UK consumers can now pick-up an HD-DVD player for less than GBP 150, around half the cost of other HD formats. HD-DVD has always enjoyed greater software sales per player than any other HD format. In fact, HD-DVD owners have already bought around 3.5 movies each, compared to less than one movie sold per Blu-ray device.

Regardless, there’s no denying that Blu-Ray is indeed emerging as the market leader in the format wars. We’ll keep you guys posted on any developments regarding this issue.