Universal Studios, which exclusively supports HD DVD, basically thumbed its nose at Blockbuster in its response to the rental chain’s decision to favor Blu-ray. A marketing manager for Universal said that rental income from places like Blockbuster only brings in less than one percent of its revenue. No big loss, in other words. So much for the predictions of it being the end of the world for HD DVD.
Meanwhile, Microsoft once again stated unequivocally that it has no intention of supporting Blu-ray since HD DVD is better for consumers. It cited the one, set-in-stone standard on what makes an HD DVD disc and HD DVD disc as one of the reasons why it’s better.
Universal Responds to Blockbuster Blu-ray Move [Trusted Reviews via Xbox-Scene]
As far as I can tell, the focus was never really on whether this would have a huge impact on revenue derived from HD DVD rentals. I don’t think anyone really felt like either of the format’s success was riding on how well they did in video rental stores. Rather, I think it was more about the idea of a large company like BBV choosing to side with Blu ray; it may influence a large number of consumers into feeling like Blu ray is the safer bet between the two formats. As I’m sure many of the people in the HD DVD bandwagon have been screaming, this isn’t going to kill off HD DVD and it’s not over yet, but, no matter how you look at it, the news of BBV’s decisions was great marketing for the Blu ray camp.