It’s hard not to see the handwriting on the wall. Literally. But let’s recap. First, it was select studios announcing the dropping of HD DVD and focusing on the better selling Blu-ray line. Then, it was Best Buy announcing it would only sell Blu-ray. Then, Amazon announced a 50% off clearance on 150 HD DVD movies. Microsoft drops the price of their Xbox HD DVD add-on player to $129. But the real killer was when WalMart announced it would drop HD DVD effective in June. So what to do when the war is over? Toshiba finally raises the white flag.

The news came from a report by NHK in Japan, which stated that Toshiba plans to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD production and close plants in Japan. And that isn’t the worst of it as Toshiba is facing a shortfall in the neighborhood of several hundred million dollars U.S. as a result of losing the format war.

It was only a matter of time before HD DVD would come to it’s whimpering end. Recently, Blu-ray seized up to 90 percent of the Japanese high-definition DVD market after a price war which left it the only format standing.

And now it’s all over but the shouting.

Hat tip: Crave