Microsoft has no plans to release a Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360 and is instead backing digital delivery, the head of Xbox in the UK has said.
Microsoft stopped production of its HD-DVD player following the decision by Toshiba, the format's creator, to concede victory to rival Blu-ray.
Microsoft's Neil Thompson said physical media would give way to downloads in the next two to three years.
"We have always said online is the way to go," he said.
He denied that Microsoft had abandoned customers who had purchased the HD-DVD add-on for their Xbox 360 consoles.
"We said to people they had the choice; we didn't force it on them as we didn't put it in the box,"he said.
Shift focus
He said Microsoft had always planned to shift its focus to digital distribution of content.
"Our belief was that in the lifetime of the Xbox 360 we were going to move to this online world and online distribution for content outside gaming.
"If we didn't believe that we would have put a hi-def player in the console.
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