CES 09: Microsoft rules out 360-equipped Blu-ray...again

Entertainment & Devices division president says low demand, high cost, and consumer alienation all equate to no inclusion of Sony-backed format in console.

At last year's Consumer Electronics Show, Warner Bros. made seismic waves by announcing that it would no longer be supporting the Toshiba-backed HD DVD high-definition digital media playback player. The move spurred a number of other studios to follow suit, signaling the end of the Microsoft-supported device and giving the format war win to Sony's Blu-ray Disc player, which comes built in with the PlayStation 3.

Robbie Bach with Bill Gates.

With this year's show in full swing, the talk has once again returned to the possibility of an Xbox 360-compatible Blu-ray player. In contrast with the "maybe, maybe not" stance the company took last year, Microsoft has come out definitely opposed to the option. In an interview with Seattle-based news site Tech Flash, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices division, ruled out a Microsoft-supported Blu-ray player for three specific reasons.

"It's not a feature we get a ton of requests for," Bach told Tech Flash. "When you ask people the list of things they want to see us spending time creating in Xbox, Blu-ray is way, way down on the list. The second thing is, from a technical perspective, it doesn't help us in the core of what Xbox does, which is in gaming. We can't have publishers produce games on Blu-ray disc. Because then they won't play on the 28 million Xboxes we've already shipped. So it doesn't help us in the core gaming space."

Bach went on to say that the final reason is that a Blu-ray-equipped Xbox 360 SKU simply wouldn't make much economic sense. "And so the scenario is," he continued, "OK, let me get this straight: I'm going to add something to the product that's going to raise the cost, which means the price goes up, consumers aren't asking for it, and by the way, my game developers can't use it."

Bach went on to reiterate Microsoft's commitment to serving video content digitally through Xbox Live. Specifically, he called out the Xbox 360's ability to stream high-definition video through a collaboration with Netflix, a service that was introduced with the New Xbox Experience dashboard update in November.

725 Comments

  • DeanoFantasy

    Posted Mar 7, 2009 5:35 pm PT

    I hope they don't get Blu-ray, they don't deserve it now they have refused it so many times, to be honest I think Microsoft don't want to pay for the extra teck,

    Why? because when I was driving home from work last year there was a Microsoft executive talking on the radio about the sales and stuff, but he said it wasn't looking good and said because with a lot of faulty tech and overall machine quality kind of let them down and has affected their overall "plan" and year progression (Probably the reason for the excessive price cut)

    Anyways I read some where that Microsoft will make one more console after the 360 and then they might concentrate on making the PC more of a worthwhile gaming machine like how it used to be.

    Anyways hears a basic list of PS3 exclusives to expect this year!

    Infamous Killzone 2 God of War 3
    Free Realms
    Quantum Theory
    L.A Noir (Rockstar!)
    HOME (Full Version)
    Ratchet and Clank The agency
    Gran Turismo 5 Yakuza 3 Trico Uncharted 2 Jak 4 Heavy Rain White Knight Chronicles Final Fantasy XIII Versus Demon’s Soul MAG Wardevil Twisted Metal

    Not to mention more and all the other multi-platform games! this year = PS3

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 12:56 pm PT

    your ruining gaming microsoft

  • dubb55

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 9:00 pm PT

    some day they will have to go bluray ,,just go ahead and bite the bullet,,

  • mwamba1

    Posted Feb 5, 2009 12:26 am PT

    the limitations on 360 disc space can be worked around. for instance on the next GTA 360 could have 1 or 2 install discs for map data onto the hard drive and then the 3rd disc would be for gameplay. that would mean 360 arcade owners would have to upgrade and buy hard drive's to play bigger games. that way you don't get current 360 owners being upset about new 360's with blu-ray, rather all they have to do to play bigger games is get a Hard Drive. case closed.

  • Xaviersx

    Posted Feb 2, 2009 2:11 pm PT

    Thanks msharki.

    For games that actually use the space that BluRay provides, I can see the Xbox at a competitive disadvantage indeed. No one likes swapping out a disc or not getting the same game as the next console because of the hardware limitations. I guess I'm still too last generation gaming and PC to know what's coming down the line from developers. Plus hated the entire BluRay / HDDVD format war or as I saw it, revenge of the DRM. Yes, Xbox will have to do something to deal with size constraints if the 3rd party developers say that the box is too limiting for their designs, but will it be the 360 or the 720 by the time Microsoft jumps? Again, thanks for the perspective.

  • msharki

    Posted Feb 2, 2009 12:26 pm PT

    The only difference is where you have a huge game like Metal Gear Solid 4 that take up 50 Gb of space. With Blu-Ray you simply have one disk rather than 6 Dual Layer DVD's. It would be stupid for Xbox to incorperate it in this generation. However, I think they will have to do something next generation when the majority of the game's file sizes will exceed a dual layer DVD. Personally I love my Playstation 3, and it's Blu-ray player. Maybe I would actually like my 360 a little better if it had more features and would stop breaking all the time.

  • Xaviersx

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 2:07 pm PT

    Does BluRay make a difference to using these consoles for gaming? With DLC and those using broadband, does BluRay really mean they want a more expensive Xbox? Maybe because I'm happy with DVDs, I'm not looking for a standalone or console based BluRay player, especially in console where it'll wear out the drive sooner than my gaming alone would. I'd rather MS reduce its hardware prices, especially the detachable harddrive.

  • TeabagChampion

    Posted Jan 28, 2009 5:40 pm PT

    With the market going blue-ray, i wonder what micro soft was thinking. However, the cost of blue-ray games is over HD games.... making it less of a profit for companies to earn on a sale.

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Jan 28, 2009 2:56 pm PT

    28million also includes the one that were replaced

  • shani_boy101

    Posted Jan 25, 2009 8:16 pm PT

    well i guess this has sealed the 360s fate, huh.
    oh, and uh 28 million already shipped? i'm sure about half of those have got RRoD, pal.

  • Progamer258

    Posted Jan 25, 2009 5:42 pm PT

    this is gonna be stupid i think

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Jan 23, 2009 12:51 pm PT

    What i said was true, sam houser said it

  • Generalmojo

    Posted Jan 22, 2009 9:20 am PT

    Bill gates: of cource we dont want bluray, our fans dont mind having FFXIII on 10 discs
    (no realy the lems dont mind disc changing, check SW lol)

  • Riverwolf007

    Posted Jan 20, 2009 7:21 am PT

    Who needs it anyway? BD is a joke for games because of the manditory HDD installs on the PS3. Seriously if you have to install games anyway why didn't they just put in a $5 dollar CD-ROM drive and sell the PS3 for $300 at launch?

  • dragoonmaster18

    Posted Jan 20, 2009 1:45 am PT

    I agree why do some of you 360 owners think your getting it, it would b copying the PS3 and would also allow Sony to sue them, and it would cost them more money to make the stand alone product, which probably very few would buy, causing them to lose money.

  • marc5477

    Posted Jan 19, 2009 3:59 pm PT

    I dont understand what people expected... Supporting blue ray games would make development harder because devs now need to support 2 versions of the game and it would cost the consumer more money. Neither of these scenarios would help MS. The argument that we need BR for new larger games is retarded. 1st of all we have an easy workaround. Its called using 2 disks which oh-by-the-way are still cheaper than 1 blue ray disk. 2nd the only reason BR games are so big is because the devs artificially inflate their data size by not compressing data effectively. All those videos and textures can easily be compressed to 1/5 of the size. It might need more horsepower to run compressed textures but last I checked there was virtually no difference between PS3 & 360 game quality when it came to graphics. In fact, the 360 generally ran better and at higher frame rates.

    Adding BR games to the XBox would be a monumental mistake from MS. Adding BR for movies would be ok, but it really isnt needed with BR players dropping below $200 already.

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Jan 19, 2009 10:06 am PT

    Your the only game developers that cant use blu ray

  • brendanhunt1

    Posted Jan 19, 2009 10:01 am PT

    Well your loss microsoft, at least ps3 will have gta v as an exclusive in 2010 due to lack of hard drive and disk space

  • sieg6529

    Posted Jan 19, 2009 4:55 am PT

    It doesn't make sense to add the Blu-ray because it would drastically change what the developers must do to make games for the 360.

  • rockutd

    Posted Jan 19, 2009 12:12 am PT

    Well mS need to be more considerate for 360 owners.

  • abbnormmal

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 11:35 pm PT

    If they make an add on at this point, it will most likely not be much cheaper than a stand alone Blu-Ray Player ($200-$250) that would probably have better quality anyway.

  • mikemetroid5565

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 10:49 pm PT

    hes got a point when it comes to switching to Blu Ray

  • fiskefyren

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 4:09 pm PT

    after reading though some of these comments... am i the only one in the whole wide world that plays blu-ray from my pc onto my HDTV?
    strange... very strange indeed

  • fiskefyren

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 3:20 pm PT

    well... if it wasn't because i have an xbox360, ps3, wii and a pc i would look into the games and by the looks of it i would 120% go for a ps3, it has some pretty hot exclusive titels comming out for it in 2009
    while the looks of it the xbox360 wont really have any exclusive titels beside those 2 new halo games and the rest of the games that the xbox360 gets will also come out for the ps3, so meh.
    and the wii on the other hand doesnt really bring anything new (as always) sadly, well not beside madworld and such which am not really a fan of.
    and well pc... hmm, i've always hated consoles xD so pc will still be my fav. gaming place :p keyboard and mouse ftw! not to mention quite alot of games for the xbox360 will get relished for the pc later anyway ^_^

  • DeanoFantasy

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 2:33 pm PT

    The PS3 is well worth the price now! you get what you buy or pay for! to put it simple most developers have worked on the 360s hardware to produce tiles before the realise of the PS3 therefore more games available now on 360 and an understandable price because of what the system contains! and yes I know people who say "I want a Xbox Elite but I cant afford it", so its all the same, I prefer my PS3 to an Xbox because I can afford it and it contains a built in Blu-Ray player, free online, great exclusives, and it has all great multi-platform games like 360 vise versa, I can play classic PSone and 2 games on it, and it is a reliable console that I am comfortable with, sure SONY has had a slow start but it can only get better! if your complaining about the price then you should save up a couple of weeks! its not so logical, I play Fable 2 and Gears sure, but COD on PS3 and mostly all exclusives for PS3 cause I prefer to play on a console that delivers less fuss and frustration, a healthy gaming lifestyle! I some times get a Blu-Ray at weekends and invite friends round its amazing watching Dark Knight with a crisp clear picture, standard TV seems blurry after lol.

  • mastara_ta

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 11:59 am PT

    ps3 ownzzzzz !!!!1

  • buffdaddy69

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 11:48 am PT

    So Many people saying they are going to buy a PS3 just so they can watch Blu-ray movies. *sigh* "Yeah, Im gonna go spend 400 dollars on a PS3 so I can watch Blu-Ray movies, even though a standard Blu-Ray player goes for about 100 to 200 dollars."

    The PS3 is a good system...But everyone needs to get off the"Well the PS3 has Blu-Ray" thing. Its being used like a crutch like no tomorrow. Micosoft = Consumer Friendly, Nintendo = Consumer Friendly, Sony = Corporate Douchebags thats Consumers MONEY Friendly.

    Nintendo and Microsoft charge the price they charge for their systems because they know people don't have money, They are also competeing with each other, So it makes sense that the Nintendo Wii is selling more then the 360 and PS3, because its affordable. It makes sense that the 360 is outselling the PS3 by a little bit, because...*drum roll* Its Affordable. Again, the PS3 is a good system but...c'mon, Take atleast 50 dollars off it. If Sony is selling Blu-Ray players, standard from prices that range from 100 dollars to 500, Theres no need to charge 400 bucks for a gaming system, just because it works as a Blu-Ray player. Blu-Ray DVDs basically put HD DVDs to rest, But why do they keep the prices high? Because Sony doesn't care about its customers. They love their customers money, But not yous. If Blu-Ray managed to put HDDVD down, Then doesn't that mean that Sony broke profit just from Blu-Ray players alone? I mean, if they managed to make HDDVD obsolete, Then they brought in millions upon billions of dollars in profit alone from blu-ray players. But why did Sony lose half of that money? Because their still charging 400 plus dollars on the PS3, Look at the Wii, people brought it because its cheap, and its easy to pick up and play, And they only charged 200 bucks for it. A Videogame System that is nowhere near the power of the 360 OR the PS3, manages to out sell two power house machines. And no one, beside that hardcore gamers, complained about the Wiis hardware, They loved it, because they were actually having fun gaming, even though i think its impossible to have fun on the Wii.

  • cpspeed

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 7:49 am PT

    I don't understand why they don't just make an "add-on" like they did with their HD-DVD drive. That way, the people that want it can get one, and it won't drive up prices on their console for everyone else.

  • thisnickstolen

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 4:23 am PT

    Why no NetFlix in Australia? Wake up KRudd!

  • Kewl_guy

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 1:28 am PT

    discs are beginning to transition out anyways. In under ten years according to Billy G. We won't use 'em (sounds about right). They are becoming a thing of the past thanks to faster internet connections. When a 1tb hard drive is under $100 it is not hard to see why discs are becoming obsolete. Digital distribution is becoming standard and M$ is doing a good job transitioning through HD netfix.

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Jan 18, 2009 12:22 am PT

    I still can't believe people are using the "PS3 has no games" argument. "Xbox is for games and PS3 is for blu-ray!" No it isn't children. I could bring out a huge list of games, but I'm not a ridiculous fanboy. There are plenty of awesome exclusives and multiplatform games for each system. Online play is good on both systems, just the Xbox is cheaper so it got picked up by more people. Most of my friends have a PS3 so i play that more, but I still love my 360. Get over yourselves.

    On topic, it would be a horrible idea to change to blu-ray in mid cycle. I say wait till next gen, when we see more games like Rage, MGS4, FFXIII and K2. Yes Killzone 2, because there are 8 layers on the screen at once; for all the people who claim there's no way it takes up more than 8-9GB of space.

  • 14musrocks

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 3:43 pm PT

    I agree completely with GIF:

    The main chunk of why I bought a PS3 was for the Blue-ray player, considering those are still going for $250+. Both companies should stick to what they do best IMO.

  • btwillett2003

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 2:09 pm PT

    Well you have to look at it this way. Sony took the chance with Blu-ray and Microsoft went with HD-DVD. After both consoles were already being shipped and sold, the economy went with Blu-ray. So if HD-DVD won the race, the PS3 would be having this problem and not the 360. I understand why they wont release the Blu-ray addon after so many games have been made on other media.

  • Amir29

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 12:27 pm PT

    Makes sense. It would be rather dumb to change the media mid-cycle. Plus, we all know how well add-on devices do in the gaming industry.

    But seriously, it's ashame that 360 didn't go with Bluray from the start. Technology is never about looking at the now. What do 360 owners do when devs start needing that extra space? I mean, there's only so much you can compress video and audio before it starts becoming noticeable to the player. Graphically, PS3 has already caught up. What will 360 owners get for choosing Microsoft next year? And the year after that? All I can say is, Microsoft better make the next Xbox Backwards compatible

  • GIF

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 10:30 am PT

    Blu-Ray is a nice luxury that would best be left on the PS3 and Blu-Ray players. I have a PS3 and an Xbox 360 and guess which one I use more for games and play the most games on? The Xbox 360. When i want to watch Blu-Ray movies or browse the internet, its the PS3. Thats all I use the PS3 for save for an exclusive 5 games I have yet to finish.

  • AceCometh

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 10:11 am PT

    Adding a Blu-Ray player on the Xbox 360 would only increase the price of it. That would be going in the wrong direction.

  • CharlieFubar posted Jan 17, 2009 6:27 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    CharlieFubar

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 6:27 am PT (hide)

    Microsoft has it right... xbox for games ps3 for blu ray... nuff said.

  • Cujo31

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 1:08 am PT

    Ya leave the Blu-Ray for next gen! I use my 360 for Games. I use my Bluray player for Blu-rays and DVDs.

  • Zerosumgame posted Jan 16, 2009 9:43 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Zerosumgame

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 9:43 pm PT (hide)

    This is perfectly understable as a early signal for dropping out of the competition.

  • switchfooted06

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 8:09 pm PT

    This coupled with the very likely rumors that PS3 prices will be dropping sometime this year means I'm definitely buying a PS3 soon for no other reason than to play Blu-rays. (And MGS4 and Killzone 2)

  • joga257

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 7:59 pm PT

    Let's put it like this, if you buy a 360, you want to play games and use XboxLive. If you want to watch movies, browse internet, have a huge harddrive or upgrade any part of the hardware, then buy a pc, get a good Video card and enjoy.
    AAND... you can play almost any game that comes out for 360 on it, with much better graphics.... XD

  • SlashDementia3

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 6:04 pm PT

    Good thinking by MS.

  • TehUndeadHorror

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 4:28 pm PT

    Fair enough Microsoft.

  • Tr5978

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 3:34 pm PT

    I agree completely with this. It makes no sense to build a Blu-ray equipped 360 now. Perhaps in the next console generation, there would be a reason for a Blu-ray Xbox. Even then, though, MS would be handing a chunk of it's profits over to one of it's competitors. Not something that shareholders would be all that interested in doing regardless.

  • osiris

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 1:21 pm PT

    brilliant. I like that. no reason for a blu ray player. I have a ps3 already, and thats all I use it for, heh. Maybe, in the future, once blu-ray takes hold (like in another 3+ years), maybe do like they did with hd-dvdvdvdvdvd and make it a separate addon or something.

  • polkastriiipe

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 1:07 pm PT

    good. i bought an elite and i have a ps3 i dont want to here that buying the ps3 would of been pointless.

  • elecid1989 posted Jan 16, 2009 12:49 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    elecid1989

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 12:49 pm PT (hide)

    i''l definetly buy an xbox 360 if it had a blu-ray player.

  • KingBobCat

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 12:16 pm PT

    Being one of the "suckers" who bought the ill-fated external HD drive that Microsoft backed, I will say that the primary reason I bought it was to watch HD movies on it, just like I occasionally watched DVD's on my 360. Oh and to blow a 10 mile hole in his argument, Microsoft released the HD DVD add-on ages after they originally released the Xbox 360. You could make the same argument that all of the people who bought a 360 before that were screwed (as far as games written to take advantage of the HD capability, had it suceeded as the winning format).

    I waited around for Microsoft to maybe add a Blu-Ray and eventually gave up. So, I bought a new Blu-Ray player (now that the prices are down) and moved the PS3 (which I bought last year for my wife to watch Blu-Rays on her TV) over to my TV. Now, I have a PS3 (love Drake's Fortune!) AND a high def DVD player. Anyone wanna buy some slightly used HD DVD movies?

    PS I still love my 360, too. And I'm not a fan-boy, but the PS3 is a technologically superior unit. Their On-line is not nearly as strong as X-Box Live and so on though. But you gotta love the Blu-Ray and games are virtually the same. As things sit, it's nice to have both.

  • emkplayboy6

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 11:44 am PT

    alfaomega Posted Jan 15, 2009 10:05 pm CT Xbox360 got PwNd!!

    Yup! Sure did!!!

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