I’m the biggest anti-Blu-ray guy on this site, I’ve never denied that. So to hear this coming from someone like Neil Thompson makes me feel better about my theory that digital distribution is the true future of media. When asked by UK’s The Guardian if he feels it was a bad move by Microsoft to back HD-DVD, Thompson answered:
“The horse that we’re fundamentally backing is the one that says the future of entertainment content is online digital distribution. I would argue that we backed the right horse. If we’re sitting here in 12 or 18 months time, we’ll be saying ‘why were people even thinking about a disc format when it’s really about digital distribution?’ Our strategy’s been developed for the last six or seven years, and ever since we launched the platform it [online content] has been our big, big, big bet.”
There was no way Microsoft could back Blu-Ray in their console, especially since Sony had pushed it as their pedestal feature on the PS3. But, Thompson cites the exact same evidence I was, that Sony wouldn’t be scrambling to build a Playstation Store with digital downloads (that Xbox Live has had for a year now) if they didn’t feel the same way.
Mark my words, Digital HD Downloads are the future, not physical formats.