In the ongoing HD format war, two major factors that come into play for either format to prevail are high definition player sales and movie studio support. With more than 4 million PS3 Blu-ray players in homes around the world and the exclusive support of movie studios Disney, Fox, MGM, Lions Gate and of course Sony, the Blu-ray camp has taken a clear lead.
On the other side, only Universal Pictures backs HD DVD exclusively, while Warner Bros. and Paramount have a foot in both camps. However, the Toshiba-backed group may be getting a bit of assistance from the European Commission, as they are particularly interested in whether the Blu-ray camp have been using improper tactics to get studios to back their format and is reportedly requiring movie studios to send in any records related to agreements over high-def DVD formats. Apparently the commission has been looking at both formats for a while, but only now has shifted its attention to Blu-ray.
The studios want a new revenue stream to compensate for slowing DVD sales. Nonetheless, having competing HD video formats is definitely not in the best interests of consumers, and many are holding out to avoid spending big bucks in players and movies that could later become obsolete.