Microsoft 'unaffected' by Blu-ray victory

Following news that Toshiba has confirmed the death of HD-DVD, Microsoft has said it will remain 'unaffected by a Blu-ray victory in the high-def format war'.

Although Microsoft has always backed Toshiba's HD-DVD format, offering an HD-DVD add-on drive for its Xbox 360 console, the firm believes games are what really matter.

“We do not believe the recent reports about HD-DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace," a spokesperson for Microsoft told Next-Gen. "As we’ve long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry."

Despite the demise of the HD-DVD platform, Xbox 360 users can continue to access high-definition content by downloading from the Xbox Live Marketplace and by streaming content from a PC using Windows Media Centre.