HD DVD backed by Toshiba and Microsoft and Blu-ray supported by Sony and Panasonic have reached a stalemate point in their war to become the best customer choice over current favorite DVD, stated Howard Stringer, Sony’s CEO.

From June this year, when the major video rental store Blockbuster announced its option for Blu-ray in stores for the reason that PlayStation 3 uses Blu-ray for movies, Sony’s Blu-ray almost was outselling Microsoft’s HD DVD by 2 to 1. But Paramount Pictures decided to opt for HD DVD movies format and ceased production of most of its Blu-ray movies.

Also Toshiba has been selling its HD DVD format players at half price than Sony’s Blu-ray players. These moves changed the balance in the format war and made Sony’s CEO to declare a stalemate during his speech at the Y cultural center in Manhattan.

"We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides," Stringer said, quoted y AP.

He also added that it's mainly a matter of prestige and in the end it won’t matter who will win this fight. He also expressed that his wish before he was made CEO of the company was to unite the camps into one format and considered that this battle has not such a big importance.

Stringer declared that PlayStation 3 catches the rival Nintendo Wii, coming back up again after a price cut three weeks ago and it will surely be sold up to 10 million packages by the end of its fiscal year in March.