Dedicated Blu-ray Disc player sales, which omit video game consoles, represented 65 per cent of unit volume share during the period and 69 per cent of retail sales dollars, according to the leaked data.
HD DVD players accounted for 28 per cent of hardware unit sales and 14 per cent of overall HD disc retail dollars. The remainder can be attributed to combo player sales share at 6 per cent unit sales and 17 per cent dollar share.
NPD numbers reflect retail point of sales data gathered from its panel of reporting dealers.
Due to policies against publicly releasing its weekly sales data, a spokesperson for The NPD Group would not confirm the numbers in the leaked report.
However, Ross Rubin, NPD Group industry analysis director, said that in general, "It has only been a couple of weeks since the Warner Bros. announcement [of exclusive support for HD DVD], as well as Toshiba's price promotions, Microsoft's lowering the price on its HD DVD Xbox peripheral and the [Toshiba] HD DVD Super Bowl ad. So, the story continues to evolve. The two formats ended 2007 essentially in a dead heat. Until one camp decides to give up its format we are going to continue to see confusion at retail."
