Microsoft: No Plans for Blu-ray on Xbox 360

October 23, 2009 By Geoff Duncan

Microsoft has said it before, but maybe they really mean it this time? The company still has no plans to bring Blu-ray to the Xbox 360.

During an interview supporting Microsoft’s launch of Windows 7, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a comment about folks being able to buy external Blu-ray players…but Microsoft’s own all-things-Xbox spokesperson Major Nelson is scrambling to clarify that Ballmer was referring to external Blu-ray players for personal computers, not for the Xbox 360 system. According to Nelson, nothing has changed: Microsoft has no plans to bring a Blu-ray player to the Xbox 360.

Microsoft backed Toshiba’s HD DVD format during the high-definition format war, and produced an external HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 to support high definition movies and, potentially, enabling game developers to ship heaps of content on HD DVD discs rather than standard DVDs. However, then Toshiba threw in the towel to Sony’s Blu-ray format, Microsoft discontinued its external HD DVD player, and has so far made no move toward Blu-ray.

Instead, Microsoft has focussed on offering on-demand video streaming via its Xbox Live service, including 1080p high-definition movie content, as well as thousands of other movies and television shows through partners like Netflix. Of course, these services are available only to Xbox Live subscribers, and Xbox 360 customers who live in areas where broadband is either not affordable or available cannot access on-demand services.

Showing 10 comments

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Dan Gaul at 3:18pm 26th October 2009 I'll go out on a limb and say that when the new xbox comes out, I'm betting it will have Blu-ray. I just think it probably doesn't make sense economically for Microsoft to build an external Blu-ray player and pay the licensing fees, along with the software development for the Xbox 360 to enable playback and updates. Their goal is to keep the costs of manufacturing down, and pricing down to outsell Sony and compete with the Wii, and rake in the dough on boxed games along with downloadable content through the Market Place.
PSXBOX at 12:10pm 26th October 2009 I recently bought the XBOX 360 Elite w/ 2 games for $299 on October 5, 2009 and I'll get a $50 rebate. I bought the 360 instead of the PS3 because of the value and games (Halo, etc...). I'll buy the PS3 when the value is right (I'm thinking $199 the way it is now, or $299 w/ 2 games & 2 blu-ray movies). Microsoft should provide a blu-ray alternative, because if they sell it for $50 w/ a blu-ray movie like they did w/ HD DVD; I'm in.
MS at 1:49pm 23rd October 2009 Anyone here bitching about XBOX not having a Bluray player obviously hasn't tried XBOX Live + NetFlix. Bluray is a decaying techonolgy, that is, there is a technology that performs as best and could replace bluray at a cheaper price, high defition video streaming accompanied with fast ethernet service.
1. TechFreak at 7:29pm 23rd October 2009 Netflix on the Xbox 360 looks awful. There is no way it can even come close to Blu-ray. Plus, if you have a bad connection, they downgrade the stream even more, so it looks grainy. The releases on Netflix for the Xbox 360 are bad, and there are few good new releases.
Dave at 1:48pm 23rd October 2009 I had an XBox... I just bought a PS3 instead of a 360 because it could play Blu-ray. Microsoft is retarded for not supporting it - streamed movies are simply not as good as a BD.
Dest at 1:38pm 23rd October 2009 And here everyone was starting to think that Microsoft may actually be planning on doing what would benefit their customers. Oh, well, there goes that idea. It was just Steve Ballmer running his big mouth again to the press and making more crazy statements that are not true.
Microsoft fan at 11:50am 23rd October 2009 I can't understand why they force me to buy a ps3 to see bd movies. It's a shame.
Superdynamite at 10:32am 23rd October 2009 Microsoft is outdated. The XBox 360 was out dtaed at launch.
elf at 9:46am 23rd October 2009 Well time to buy a PS3