The Associated Press reports that having stocked both HD DVD and Blu-Ray formats in 250 stores late last year, the entertainment giant found that consumers plumped for Blu-Ray 70 per cent of the time.

The backing will come as a major boost for Sony as it looks to establish a lead in the next-gen format war as well as leverage PS3 as the high definition media hub of choice.

“The consumers are sending us a message. I can't ignore what I'm seeing,” senior vice president of merchandising at Blockbuster Matthew Smith told The Associated Press.

The report continues to state that Blockbuster’s decision to back the format was due to the fact that all major film studios bar one are releasing films in Blu-ray, with many releasing exclusively for the Sony format. Only Universal Studios is exclusively supporting HD DVD.

Thanks to Next-Gen for the heads-up.