It’s Official: Toshiba Dumps HD DVD For Good

I guess it was only a matter of time. After having so many major studios and manufacturers jump off of the sinking ship, you knew that Toshiba couldn’t keep the HD DVD dream alive for much longer. From Best Buy to Wal-Mart, it seemed like everyone was jumping on-board the Blu-ray train instead. And so, Toshiba has finally waved he white flag, declaring that they will “discontinue” their HD DVD business for good. This, for all intents and purposes, is the final nail in the coffin.

As you can probably expect, Toshiba isn’t quite ready to defect to their rival just yet, so while they will stop manufacturing HD DVD players, they will not suddenly start producing Blu-ray equivalents. Instead, they’re taking a step back to just regular old DVD for now until they figure out what to do.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. “While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”