100°

HD DVD casualty report: over 1m players, recorders, and drives lost to the format war

At all curious to find out just how rare that HD DVD player of yours really is? Well, engadget hate to tell you, but it's probably not rare enough to fetch anything special on eBay in a couple of years -- but still every bit rare (read: discontinued) enough to justify taking up space in your home theater. The numbers, according to Nishida-san, at this morning's press conference:

* Xbox 360 drives (worldwide) - 300k
* PCs with HD DVD (worldwide) - 300k

Standalone players/recorders:

* US - 600k units
* Europe - 100k units
* Japan - 30,000 units

Add it all up, and that's about a 1.3 million customers -- just a fraction of the 10m+ Blu-ray owners out there -- that got boned on HD DVD. Thanks, Toshiba and Sony!

Read Full Story >>
engadget.com
PirateThom5928d ago (Edited 5928d ago )

From Engadget/Toshiba:

"Q: How many HD DVD players and recorders, exactly, did you sell?
A: 600,000 players in the US -- 300,000 of which were Xbox 360 HD DVD drives. 100,000 units were sold in Europe. And about 10,000 players and 20,000 recorders in Japan. So about 730,000 units worldwide."

http://www.engadget.com/200...

Guwapo775927d ago (Edited 5927d ago )

Q: How many HD DVD players and recorders, exactly, did you sell?
A: 600,000 players in the US and 300,000 Xbox 360 HD DVD drives. 100,000 units were sold in Europe. And about 10,000 players and 20,000 recorders in Japan. So about 1,030,000 units worldwide.

...that was from your link. Not sure where you got your numbers from.

Btw, I didn't mean to hit agree...oops!

SSCOOLCHEA5928d ago

the japanese love there techs , and you know they love the high end stuff , you know and i know they always get there shi. first ..when i see that theres only 30k unit sold in japan...that is a problem and you will never make it anywhere...The US sold 600k my opinion because people thought it was a bargain.. i work at an electronic store i used to see people pay 600 dolars for a blu ray player ( not the ps3 ) thats what amazes me...but anyways this is good for consumer i can see the price starts to fall...

CaliGamer5928d ago

Poor people. Hope they like upscaling DVD's. Why didn't they just do some research, I guess that is a question you could ask many consumers. Hopefully they learned their lesson.

ThoraxD5928d ago

Yeah that's right do some research and see that blu ray is the superior format even though blu ray players still can't do some of the things that HD DVD players did from day one... Start looking for ways that
Blu ray is technically superior and I think that you will find 2-3
if my research is correct. The bottom line is that because of the PS3,
Blu ray had an edge which HD DVD could never hope to match.

SSCOOLCHEA5928d ago

is good dont know what there talking about , the quality is awful . put your dvd in then ps3 and it still looks like crap...ever played ps2 games on ps3 looks like crap...( not that bad as movies ) . i can see people playing there dvd on the ps3 to watch the movies but to say it looks good , stop lying...why would anybody pay even 50 to get an upscale to 1080 i....crap , crap , crap ...go get a ps3 and buy blu ray with a bravia now thats quality my friend...

ReBurn5928d ago

When I play standard DVD's on the PS3 I think they look great.

Rageanitus5928d ago

You cant tell the difference really on a crt when playing dvd's...

But the moment you put it on a hd projector or ANY size flat panel you can start noticing the flaws of DVD. Color and sharpness are simply not there even upscaled at 1080i.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5928d ago
PSWe605928d ago

and somewhere on earth pathetic loser x-box fanboys are trying with all their might to come up with excuse for these abysmal numbers.

By the way, for the idiot x-box/M$ fanboys abysmal means really really bad.

Expy5928d ago

Casualties that could've been avoided if those consumers would have done their research.

Show all comments (22)
60°

MSI releases new RTX 4060 Ti bundle that fans of Monster Hunter will love

MSI celebrates the 20th anniversary of Monster Hunter with this unique bundle that features a matching RTX 4060 Ti and game controller.

240°

Why Xbox believes it must cut costs and close studios

Companies, particularly public companies like Microsoft, need to grow.

Read Full Story >>
eurogamer.net
gold_drake9h ago

i mean its pretty simple, they spent close to 30 billion in acquiring activision, they thought they'd make it bk no problem, and that didnt happen.

its just shit that because of MS's miscalculation alot of people lost their jobs.

Jingsing6h ago

This is exactly what many people said would happen including the CMA and FTC. Lies lies and more lies and they allowed a $69 billion buy out to happen.

gold_drake6h ago

oh yeh it was 70 billion. that was my bad haha even worse.

thesoftware7306h ago(Edited 5h ago)

gold,

You can't be serious, right?

Do you think that MS thought they would make 80bill in a year & Half? They haven't even released titles under MS yet, lol.

But in fact, that A/B revenue is already paying off, look at the last earnings call. That $80 billion is long-term money, my guy, no sane person/company would think they would make that back in any short-term situation, it's a long-term investment.

Let's play silly then. If MS's reason for laying off staff and closing studios was due(which it really was not) to the A/B deal, tell me what Sony's reason was for past studio closures, the recent 900-person layoffs, closing Sony London, shutting down Dreams, and closing Japan Studio? Zipper? Psygnosis? cuts at all their internal studios.

Keep in mind, you are claiming MS's reason is because of the A/B deal; please explain Sony's reason.

Hofstaderman5h ago

You actually still defending them? Sheesh.....

gold_drake5h ago

this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt.

and of course not, but im pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. they didnt, and closed off some studios.

its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case.

romulus235h ago(Edited 5h ago)

(It really was) due to the Activision Blizzard deal and the loss of physical sales due to gamepass. You keep bringing up Sony in all your posts about this, stop deflecting and trying to change the topic, this is about MS and what they are doing.

BehindTheRows5h ago

Has nothing to do with Sony. Stay on topic.

notachance5h ago

once in a while you see someone too invested in their make-believe console war that everything happened has to be connected to said war…

a bit of banter between fans is normal, this crusade you’re doing now isn’t.

Chevalier4h ago

Wow idiotic. You bring up very old closures not that there haven't been recent ones from Playstations, but, seriously stop deflecting. This has NOTHING to do with Playstation.

Does Playstation got $3 trillion behind them and daddies wallet? No they don't so stop making a fool of yourself.

Xbox has never been profitable really and they just keep losing money so between their worst hardware sales, terrible 3rd party sales and now terrible 1st party sales.

Gamepass numbers that are no longer being announced shows their numbers after 3 years of missed targets has flatlined. Plus their recent gains up to 34 million were ONLY because they folded Gold members in too. Absolutely take your idiotic rhetoric out of here. Keep on topic without deflecting.

S2Killinit4h ago

Ayayayay with these xbox/MS excuses.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4h ago
thesoftware7303h ago(Edited 3h ago)

Drake,

"this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt."

You are correct that it's not an MS Vs Sony Topic, but when exaggeration and imagination mix from a one-sided social group, similar examples are needed to ground radical thoughts; in this instance, the example was that shutting down 3,4,5, even 6 studios during a restructure/ buyout/acquisition is not some anomaly(it can suck) that has to be dissected or spell doom and gloom.

"But I'm pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. They didn't, and they closed off some studios."

But they did make more money, a lot, actually; the last earnings call showed a huge growth in profit, almost all due to A/B revenue.

"its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case."

The fact that they did make money, kinda throws this out the window, and besides, you don't wake up and say, hey let's close a studio, you look at the output, you look at the dev as a whole, the long term and short term, you weigh it against all other studios and goals, you keep key members, ect..then you close if they are the weakest links...which by MS analysis they were.

Again, I will make a small Sony comparison, just so some of you can understand and see past the bias; Insomniac, ND, and Bungie have made some of the best games ever created, yet Sony saw fit to cut jobs in every of these studios, even tho Insomniac & ND are the biggest producers of PS games, leagues ahead better than Tango and Arkane, yet, they saw cuts, mind you, while being the TOP produces of PS first party. They were told to cut costs, and more jobs may be on the line, and Bungie is being threatened by a hostile Sony takeover. Put that in perspective, as I know that layoffs and dev closures are different, but if the best of the best is getting cut off, it is less than surprising, that lesser studios are closing.

@Cheva,
My response fits well with your comments as well. You even went on to prove that the dev closures are not just due to A/B acquisition. Then you point out Sony has less money than MS, inferring that MS should keep devs open that they see as lesser earners, while Sony having less money makes it okay to close them. lol...it doesn't work that way.

gold_drake3h ago

im not reading all of that. u have ur opinion, i have mine.

thats rly it.

but this aint sony vs ms.

ApocalypseShadow2h ago

You're trying to compare a 100 billion company to a company that has 3 TRILLION worth. SIE has to live or die on their own. And in turn, PlayStation has helped the main company again and again. Sony has to balance out what is working and not working in the company.

While Xbox has Daddy Warbucks footing the bill to keep the platform afloat. They have been bleeding money from Nvidia hardware in the OG Xbox, the RROD fiasco, the attempted 2013 DRM nonsense and the lies about being the most powerful console in the world and the losses of paying out millions to prop up a service hoping it catches on with enough subscribers to justify its existence.

They're not comparable if Xbox isn't allowed to live or die by its actions. It's subsidized. Revenue isn't profit. And if they were profiting on their own, they wouldn't be closing developers. If they were profiting, they wouldn't need Daddy Warbucks spending 80 to 100 billion buying up 3rd party publishers to sustain a loss leading platform.

They stopped announcing game sales, stopped announcing hardware sales, stopped announcing game pass subscribers, they are putting games on their competitors platforms but you're telling us that they are doing great even after killing jobs and closing developers at Xbox.

Stop drinking the Kool aid. You're drunk.

anast6h ago

They are going to use AI for a large portion of the game development process. Upper management need bonuses and the shareholders need more money. So, people will lose their jobs.

Skuletor6h ago

Maybe they were already using AI to make business decisions, which would explain why they closed Hi-Fi Rush's studio, then said they need more games like Hi-Fi Rush not long after that announcement.

Crows905h ago(Edited 5h ago)

They shouldn't have bought any studios. Some is okay...but they went on a shopping spree...stupid

Einhander19725h ago

The better question is why did Microsoft buy publishers for a service they were subsidizing they knew couldn't support.

And why are so many websites trying to make people feel sorry for Microsoft instead of truly criticizing the fact they are closing studios and killing jobs that would have been fine if Microsoft themselves hadn't gotten involved.

Quit feeling sorry for Microsoft and start feeling sorry for the industry and the all the gamers who are actually losing out.

THIS IS MICROSOFTS FAULT.

RNTody5h ago

The first thing that happens after any major acquisition or merger is a consolidation of the whole new portfolio, which includes cutting any excess, bloat or portfolios that don't fit the larger MO of the big boy. So far, it's been par for the course with Microsoft and that's why gamers have been so against this acquisition. Tango Gameworks is the beginning. You think Microsoft wants to pay to keep small timers like Ninja Theory in business?

There is absolutely zero evidence to suggest that Microsoft will improve any of these studios, but plenty to suggest that they will get rid of what they don't need and hold onto the IP. The real agenda of the acquisition was always to acquire The Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Fallout, Call of Duty, Candy Crush etc. that will create millions in passive revenue stream for Microsoft regardless of where the games release. Microsoft simply wants their cut.

Because of Games Pass Microsoft has no interest in investing in new IP which is risky and requires creative talent they can neither nurture nor manage. Game Pass has also not grown in the way Microsoft expected it to, even post acquisitions. Therefore the logical thing to do, without serious money makers to release, is to cut as much cost as possible.

Show all comments (30)
110°

7 Deserving Games That Never Got Backward Compatibility

Backward compatibility works for many games on newer consoles, but titles such as The Simpsons: Hit and Run have been left out.