Microsoft accused of causing Blu-ray/HD-DVD war

A Hollywood director has accused Microsoft of deliberately stoking a format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

Michael Bay, who directed Transformers, Armageddon and Bad Boys, alleged that Microsoft had deliberately tried to cause confusion over the next media format so that it could sell downloads.

Bay was asked by a fan on his web forum why his films were so slow to be released on Blu-ray, which the fan favoured. Bay blamed Microsoft for his use of the HD-DVD format.

"What you don't understand is corporate politics. Microsoft wants both formats to fail so they can be heroes and make the world move to digital downloads," he said.

Bay alleged that Microsoft is "handing out $100m cheques to studios just to embrace HD-DVD and not the leading, and superior, Blu-ray".

"They want confusion in the market until they perfect the digital downloads. Time will tell and you will see the truth," he said.

Bay's complaints echo those who claim that Paramount dropped its Blu-ray titles after receiving a payout of marketing funds.

See also:

LG upgrades dual-format DVD drive

New combo drive writes Blu-ray discs 'considerably faster'  27 Nov 2007

BBC Trust approves HD channel

High definition gets green light after public consultation  20 Nov 2007

Kmart drops Blu-ray players

Cheap HD-DVD players creating pressure  02 Nov 2007

BD+ encryption cracked already

Only a matter of time  01 Nov 2007

Microsoft offers free HD-DVD films to UK Xbox buyers

Deal almost covers the cost of the console  22 Oct 2007

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