Mark sent in these thoughts about HD DVD:

When the dust settles, and business schools get to use this as a case study, I think we’ll find that the decider in this battle wasn’t studio support or the PS3…it was the xbox 360, Microsofts desire to gain traction in the lucrative gaming market, and their decision that getting to the market first was the best thing they could do to gain traction from Sony and the Playstation console.

The moment that Microsoft decided that there was more to be gained by beating the PS3 to the market by over a year to become the sole unchallenged next generation gaming system, then holding up release for a next generation drive or HDMI compatibility, the battle was over.

Microsoft releases the xbox 360 with HD-DVD…and still manages to do it a year before the PS3 hits, and we wouldn’t be having a battle…HD-DVD wins because of installation base and cost of players – the studios have no choice but to follow. Who knows why this didn’t occur (Toshiba’s internal development wasn’t quick enough, the spec wasn’t ready, etc)…or what would have happened should Microsoft have decided that they could have waited for HD-DVD or HDMI to be ready (…if Microsoft had held up the 360 waiting for HD-DVD to be ready, would it have ceded significant ground that they won off of the PS3 by beating them to market? The PS3 went to market without a decent launch title…would Halo 3 been enough to even the field? One title was essentially enough to save the first xbox – that being Halo…We’ll never know if that difference in timing was what allowed the 360 to acquire the significant position it enjoys in the market today…)

Either way, it’s this enthusiasts opinion, now that this is all over, that the moment that Microsoft decided that time to market was the most important factor to winning ground from Sony’s PlayStation console, the battle was over.

Great comments Mark, thanks for sharing.

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