It's Official! Warner is now Blu-ray exclusive!!!!

 

Wow... we all knew it was coming, but the timing is awesome.  Warner Brothers studios (and logically New Line as well) have made it official: they are going to be supporting Blu-ray exclusively from now on!

Warner has been one of the biggest releasing studios of Blu-ray content, and THE largest releaser of HD DVD content.  This will leave Paramount and Universal as the sole HD DVD-supporting studios left.

Under the new studio landscape, Blu-ray will have roughly 70% of all Hollywood revenue from films in its camp exclusively, while HD DVD will have less than 30%.  As far as actual title releases go (judging by past studio releases), Blu-ray will have an even bigger advantage.

According to Warner Brothers chairman Barry Meyer, "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

This is undoubtedly the biggest move to date in the ongoing Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war, and it seems it will be only a matter of time until the few holdouts (Universal and Paramount) move to releasing their titles on the Blu-ray format.

For those who have purchased HD DVD players, Warner will continue bringing out titles in that format until May, 2008, though they won't be released until after their Blu-ray and HD DVD counterparts.

Expect a domino effect to take place with major retailers ditching the HD DVD format and the two remaining hold-out studios to begin releasing titles as well.  Paramount, which reportedly took $150 million in advertising incentives to go HD DVD-exclusive could have a problem, but they reportedly have several "outs" in their contract, so even they should be able to come around shortly.

Regardless of which video format you may have supported, most will agree that Warner choosing Blu-ray cements its victory and should allow the Blu-ray format to move forward as the high-definition industry standard.  For those HD DVD-supporters who somehow ended up on my blog, be sure to check out the Blu-ray player page accessible from the menu navigation on the right side of this page to determine what is the best way for you to join the winning team sooner rather than later.

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