Blu-ray may have won the war, but it’s still in the fight—to get sales.

Research firm NPD Group says (via USA Today) that the demise of HD DVD hasn’t really helped Blu-ray sales much.

In fact, the report says that Blu-ray hardware sales dropped 40 percent from January to February. Also, sales only grew 2 percent from February to March.

However, that number excludes the number of PlayStation consoles, so the real number of players involved is a mystery. However, Sony says they sold 257,120 PS3s in March, doubling 2007’s numbers.

“When we surveyed consumers late last year, an overwhelming number of them said they weren’t investing in a new next-generation player because their old DVD player worked well and next-generation players were too expensive,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD. “It’s clear from retail sales that those consumer sentiments are still holding true.”

Another contributing factor seems to be that consumers are still waiting for players with web connectivity. This is one of the many reasons that consumers still prefer the PS3 over a stand-alone player. Because of this (and, of course, the gaming aspect), ABI Research says that the number of stand-alone players probably won’t surpass PS3s until 2013.

In February, Toshiba announced that it would abandon the HD DVD format by the end of March.

About the Author:
Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.