Walt Disney Pictures has announced that they are joining the Blu-Ray group and will produce software titles in that format. However, at the same time, they haven't completely ruled out also producing titles in the competing HD-DVD format. Looks like the race for ownership of the next-gen DVD standard is far from over...

Walt Disney Pictures has announced that they will distribute movies in the Blu-Ray disc format developed by a group of companies led by Sony. The battle for leadership in the race to develop the next-generation DVD standard has intensified since Time-Warner and others chose to support Toshiba's HD-DVD format.

There has been a lot of attention on which standard Disney would choose to support . Disney holds approximately 17% of the DVD software market. When added to the market shares of Sony Pictures and MGM, this equates to a total market share of approximately 50% for supporters of the Blu-Ray standard. This puts the Blu-Ray group approximately level with the market share held by the Toshiba and NEC-supported HD-DVD group. However, Disney did not deny that it may also sell software in the HD-DVD format, leaving the winner in the standards war far from decided.

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