Microsoft says no Blu-ray for Xbox 360

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is not in talks to include Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology in its Xbox 360 video game console, an executive said on Wednesday.

The comments by Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, poured cold water on recent speculation that Microsoft could support Blu-ray after Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research), backer of the rival HD DVD format, gave up when key movie studios and retailers abandoned the technology.

"Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," Greenberg told Reuters in an interview.

Microsoft, which has stopped making an HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, would continue to invest in its Xbox Live online service that already lets users rent hundreds of movies, including ones in high-definition.

"We're the only console offering digital distribution of entertainment content," Greenberg said.

The software giant also expected that supply problems for the Xbox 360 meant the machine was outsold in the U.S. market by Sony's PlayStation 3 console in February for the second month in a row.

"We definitely expect we will trail in February as a result of our supply constraints," Greenberg said, adding: "By April, we will be in a very healthy inventory situation."

That would be in time for the April 29 launch of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) "Grand Theft Auto 4" game, which is widely expected to be one of the best-selling titles of 2008 and could drive purchases of the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Greenberg spoke a day ahead of the planned release of U.S. video game sales data for February by market research firm NPD, whose monthly reports are pored over by game companies eager for bragging rights.

The PS3 struggled last year due to its high price and lack of must-have games, but sales have picked up in recent months thanks to price cuts in late 2008 and a slate of anticipated upcoming games.

"We still think we have a great value, that we have significantly better value than Sony. Every month we've actually been in stock we've outsold them by a 2 to 1 margin," Greenberg said.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge...lBrandChannel=0

I think this may be true, hence the recent price drops.

Not saying they weren't planned, but they quickly came out of "nowhere" - Yeah makes sense to get them out before GTA4, but all I seen was a rumour that came out of nowhere, then it actually came true!

Also a hint at what we should expect from NPDs this month - As for the "stock" issues, they really better not carry on for another month. Won't seem that great if each time the PS3 pips the montly 360 sales, it's blamed on stock.

With the price cuts, they may have another stock issue :|

[troist]

I'm not too surprised tbh. They want digital distribution to get popular. The PS3 already has the reputation as a blu-ray player, so it'd take a lot of marketing to steal that away from Sony which probably would cost more than its worth.

[Ricardo Gil]

I guess they'll just go with the market. If there's demand, they'll support it.

[Deathray]

I guess they'll just go with the market. If there's demand, they'll support it.

If they do that, they're going to shoot themselves in the foot and get screwed over

It is the format that won, support it now, let people decide if they want it... simple. I guarantee you that people will buy it

I think they're not keen on it because it'll probably cost a lot of money to make, but then they'd have to sell it for cheap in order to have an edge against the ps3

[spenser.d]

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge...lBrandChannel=0

I think this may be true, hence the recent price drops.

Not saying they weren't planned, but they quickly came out of "nowhere" - Yeah makes sense to get them out before GTA4, but all I seen was a rumour that came out of nowhere, then it actually came true!

I love how you try and connect the price drops to Bluray as if MS is a sinking ship or something. If that were true, they'd have dropped the price in more than just one territory. All the game companies pretty much have their price-cut plans strategically planned out before they even launch their console - that's not secret news. They didn't come out of 'nowhere'.

-Spenser

[James123]

The 360 is too damn noisy to be taken seriously as a dvd/blu ray player anyway (IMO). PS3 for 'home cinema', 360 for games is what I (and most people I know who use consoles) have as a setup.

[Kushan]

I love how you try and connect the price drops to Bluray as if MS is a sinking ship or something. If that were true, they'd have dropped the price in more than just one territory. All the game companies pretty much have their price-cut plans strategically planned out before they even launch their console - that's not secret news. They didn't come out of 'nowhere'.

-Spenser

QFT.

The reason it seemed so "sudden" was because NO company ever announces a price cut until the day it happens, purely because they still want people to buy them at the previous price. It's simple business economics there.

If they do that, they're going to shoot themselves in the foot and get screwed over

How are they going to screw themselves over if they support what the market demands? Right now Blu-ray player prices are at an all time high. Despite Blu-ray "winning", most people are still going to wait for them to drop in price and that's IF they decide to upgrade at all. I genuinely don't think Blu-ray is that big a deal right now and there's a chance it may never be - it wouldn't be the first time a more "advanced" format got beat out by it's predecessor. VHS is a great example of this, we had all sorts of other "better" formats that came out both before and after it, but it wasn't until DVD that people bothered to change over. Is Blu-ray really that much better than DVD? How about a nicely upscaled DVD? How about a Nicely upscaled DVD that cost 1/4 of the price of the Blu-ray equivalent, being upscaled on a player that cost 1/4 the price of a PS3? We need to see some serious price drops before Blu-ray begins to take off in a big way and those price drops wont happen any time soon, especially since Sony wont license it to Chinese Manufacturers.

[Ricardo Gil]

I love how you try and connect the price drops to Bluray as if MS is a sinking ship or something. If that were true, they'd have dropped the price in more than just one territory. All the game companies pretty much have their price-cut plans strategically planned out before they even launch their console - that's not secret news. They didn't come out of 'nowhere'.

-Spenser

Also, let's not forget about the US dollar constantly falling against the Euro. That means prices falling down for most of Europe.

[Mathachew Veteran]

I think it would be in MS' best interest to support it now. Lack of the support for the selected HD format will make people more inclined to simply opt for a PS3 while 360 only plays DVDs. I can see sales flipping eventually simply because the 360 does not have a BD player, beit internal or external.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I love how you try and connect the price drops to Bluray as if MS is a sinking ship or something. If that were true, they'd have dropped the price in more than just one territory. All the game companies pretty much have their price-cut plans strategically planned out before they even launch their console - that's not secret news. They didn't come out of 'nowhere'.

-Spenser

Thats your perception, not mine.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

How are they going to screw themselves over if they support what the market demands? Right now Blu-ray player prices are at an all time high. Despite Blu-ray "winning", most people are still going to wait for them to drop in price and that's IF they decide to upgrade at all. I genuinely don't think Blu-ray is that big a deal right now and there's a chance it may never be - it wouldn't be the first time a more "advanced" format got beat out by it's predecessor. VHS is a great example of this, we had all sorts of other "better" formats that came out both before and after it, but it wasn't until DVD that people bothered to change over. Is Blu-ray really that much better than DVD? How about a nicely upscaled DVD? How about a Nicely upscaled DVD that cost 1/4 of the price of the Blu-ray equivalent, being upscaled on a player that cost 1/4 the price of a PS3? We need to see some serious price drops before Blu-ray begins to take off in a big way and those price drops wont happen any time soon, especially since Sony wont license it to Chinese Manufacturers.

HD will take over the market, I think you're underselling it if you think upscaled DVDs will remain the future. A lot of people won't even know their DVDs are being "upscaled".... they'll just think of it as standard def vs hi def in it's primitive form.

It's not just consumers who can make HD the leader, studios and movie makers will be pushing HD - Of course they want their movies to be shown in hi def with 7.1 DTS and what not.

This is a battle for console sales, not mass consumption of the market. Let's take the PS2, sold 120+ million... let's take DVD player sales, hell I don't even want to guess.

The PS3 or 360 would never end up the predominant player after 5-10 years (cheap players will be), but in the earlier years it's most likely the PS3 or 360 will see the highest sales for HD movies.

Therefore not supporting Blu Ray is a risk, as the PS3 could outsell the 360 now due to that.

[y2kboy23]

The 360 is too damn noisy to be taken seriously as a dvd/blu ray player anyway (IMO). PS3 for 'home cinema', 360 for games is what I (and most people I know who use consoles) have as a setup.

It's rather quite when watching a DVD of DivX file on it so the noise thing isn't actually a problem.

[spenser.d]

Thats your perception, not mine.

Right :rolleyes:

You said it all first, not any of us. And then you go and comment on the most irrelevant part of my post...probably because the relevant material in my post is correct.

-Spenser

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Right :rolleyes:

You said it all first, not any of us. And then you go and comment on the most irrelevant part of my post...probably because the relevant material in my post is correct.

-Spenser

I did not say the 360 was a sinking ship.

edit: If it's irrelevant why the hell are you posting it?

[Kushan]

HD will take over the market, I think you're underselling it if you think upscaled DVDs will remain the future. A lot of people won't even know their DVDs are being "upscaled".... they'll just think of it as standard def vs hi def in it's primitive form.

It's not just consumers who can make HD the leader, studios and movie makers will be pushing HD - Of course they want their movies to be shown in hi def with 7.1 DTS and what not.

This is a battle for console sales, not mass consumption of the market. Let's take the PS2, sold 120+ million... let's take DVD player sales, hell I don't even want to guess.

The PS3 or 360 would never end up the predominant player after 5-10 years (cheap players will be), but in the earlier years it's most likely the PS3 or 360 will see the highest sales for HD movies.

Therefore not supporting Blu Ray is a risk, as the PS3 could outsell the 360 now due to that.

I never once said that upscaled DVDs will REMAIN the future, I'm simply stating that they can look pretty damn good themselves when REGULAR scaled DVD's look good enough for most people as it is.

You said yourself, most people probably wouldn't even know that their DVD's were being upscaled and just see it as "standard def vs. high def", so when they compare them side-by-side and realise that high-def isn't THAT much better, yet costs a LOT more, are they really all going to jump on the bandwagon? (Not to mention that some Blu-ray/HD-DVD's never actually looked much better than DVD anyway. I watched T2 in high-definition the other day and I really didn't get that "high-def!" experience like I got with TMNT the night before - and even that wasn't a big deal to me, but then each to their own).

That's why I believe the vast majority of people will only upgrade once prices have come down considerably - for them, the picture quality just does not justify the cost involved.

And that means Microsoft is perfectly safe for the moment, sure it'd be great if they did throw out an addon, but it's not going to cost them THAT much by not supporting it because even you, an obviously big Sony fan, admitted that you play more games on your 360 than your PS3. Microsoft is catering for gamers and that's where they'll make their money - not blu-ray sales, so they're quite happy where they are.

I still think an addon will come out eventually, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they just made it part of their next console.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I never once said that upscaled DVDs will REMAIN the future, I'm simply stating that they can look pretty damn good themselves when REGULAR scaled DVD's look good enough for most people as it is.

You said yourself, most people probably wouldn't even know that their DVD's were being upscaled and just see it as "standard def vs. high def", so when they compare them side-by-side and realise that high-def isn't THAT much better, yet costs a LOT more, are they really all going to jump on the bandwagon? (Not to mention that some Blu-ray/HD-DVD's never actually looked much better than DVD anyway. I watched T2 in high-definition the other day and I really didn't get that "high-def!" experience like I got with TMNT the night before - and even that wasn't a big deal to me, but then each to their own).

That's why I believe the vast majority of people will only upgrade once prices have come down considerably - for them, the picture quality just does not justify the cost involved.

And that means Microsoft is perfectly safe for the moment, sure it'd be great if they did throw out an addon, but it's not going to cost them THAT much by not supporting it because even you, an obviously big Sony fan, admitted that you play more games on your 360 than your PS3. Microsoft is catering for gamers and that's where they'll make their money - not blu-ray sales, so they're quite happy where they are.

I still think an addon will come out eventually, but I also wouldn't be surprised if they just made it part of their next console.

Oh well on my HDTV I notice a fairly noticeable difference between DVD and Blu Ray (if I were to theoretically do a side-by-side comparison).

We'll see how the market goes, many many different predictions.

Some think Blu Ray, others think DVD, others think downloading.

I think it will be a mix of all 3, but end up Blu Ray on top at somepoint.

As for gaming, yeah I play more games on my 360, but is it any surprise? What has been out longer, what has more exclusives?

I'll use my PS3 more by the end of the year when I get to play all the games I want to play on it, and once Home is out (i'll be a sucker for a virtual enviroment heh).

So I in no way think it's a case of Sony not catering for gamers, they just haven't had a steady enough stream of exclusives - Mainly due to their sketchy launch and what was probably hard use development tools/hardware.

They haven't cattered as well as MS so far, but there chance to show us all what they can do is this year.

Tooth-aches are just about over now. Gimme MGS4 :)

[gunnerhkjp]

I still think a blu-ray drive will come for the 360.

MS loses nothing and gains a lot by allowing playback of the next HD standard on their console.

[rajputwarrior]

guess that settle the dispute of me getting a ps3 this summer because of the blu ray player, if MS came out with one i would have just bought the add on. good job ms, you are giving money to the competition.

plus i can get metal gear four (and buy snake eater (i am a giant metal gear fanboy and i have never played it...) and play it on the ps3 :) )

[magik]

Looks like I'll be buying a PS3 soon ;)

[BajiRav]

Looks like I'll be buying a PS3 soon ;)

This is blasphemy...this is madness!

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.

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:p

[MightyJordan]

This is blasphemy...this is madness!

THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Back to OP, it's gonna be a blow for Microsoft if they don't back Blu-Ray. As previous people said, people will go for the PS3 as it's an established Blu-Ray player, whereas the 360 only plays DVDs, and the extinct HD DVD if you pay an extra ?39.99 for the drive.

[shakey_snake]

I still think a blu-ray drive will come for the 360.

MS loses nothing and gains a lot by allowing playback of the next HD standard on their console.

Well, they're supporting their opponent in the market.

That sounds like it would be a losing situation to me.

[Ricardo Gil]

Well, they're supporting their opponent in the market.

That sounds like it would be a losing situation to me.

By the contrary. Supporting blu-ray isn't supporting the PS3, it's creating competition.

[shakey_snake]

:rolleyes: Microsoft isn't competing against the PS3, they're competing against Sony. Supporting Blu-Ray involves paying licensing fees to Sony. As a company you compete against companies, not products.

And based on CES this year, Microsoft really thinks they can be the leader in the emerging market of online distribution. And if you look at the history of Microsoft, they're usually not wrong about emerging markets.

[Coldgunner]

Supporting Blu-Ray involves paying licensing fees to Sony.

no it doesn't, it involves paying licensing fees to the BDA, panasonic being the major patent holder.