In recent days we’ve learned that Warner and its sister company New Line decided to axe their HD DVD support in favor of publishing future titles exclusively with the Blu-ray Disc format, and that fellow HD DVD supporter Paramount may capitalize on an escape clause in its exclusivity contract with Toshiba that specifically pertained to Warner’ defection.

Now, Variety is reporting that Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended. That doesn’t have to mean that Universal is actually abandoning HD DVD, but typically these contracts are renewed well before their expiration, so to find out that such isn’t the case here could be an indication that the studio is at least hedging its bets in regard to future formats.

Despite recent reports both Paramount and Universal have confirmed that, for the time being, they will continue to support HD DVD – though they would not say whether Blu-ray support is also on plans. Could the drawn out HD format war soon be coming to an end?