Microsoft has made an official statement about Toshiba canceling the HD DVD high-definition disc format. The company believes that games sell consoles and that HD DVD was just one of several ways to offer the HD experience to customers.

In a statement supplied to the iPod Observer on Tuesday, Microsoft said:

"We do not believe Toshiba’s announcement about HD DVD will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. As we’ve long stated, we believe it is games that sell consoles and Xbox 360 continues to have the largest next-gen games library with the most exclusives and best selling games in the industry.

"HD DVD is one of the several ways we offered a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room along with playback of the DVD movies they already own."

A spokesperson for the Xbox team added that "there are no plans for Microsoft to make additional statements at this time."

Microsoft has been leaving the door open to change ever since the fortunes of HD DVD started to wane. Last summer, Microsoft appeared to be covering its bets about HD DVD and possible Blu-ray support for the Xbox. However, Microsoft also appears to be of like mind with Apple, thinking that Internet downloads will eventually make physical discs unnecessary for most users.

Microsoft offers its Xbox customers the ability to download and watch HD movies directly from the Internet in 720p resolution. Recently, Apple added that same service to its Apple TV.