Reports claimed that the release date of the upcoming Xbox 720 codenamed as Durango or Infinity will be delayed as Sony has an exclusive license over the use Blu-ray technology in game consoles.

This rumor comes from the website Mondbox which received the information from a source working in a large Italian commercial chain. Apparently there is a clause in the Blu-ray licensing terms that gives Sony the exclusive rights to implement Blu-ray in game consoles. Sony's Playstation 3 console supports Blu-ray, while the Xbox 360 lacks support for it.

Blu-ray format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.

Microsoft released an external drive supporting the competing HD-DVD format but it flopped and eventually vanished in the market. Sony's support for Blu-ray positively influenced each other. Since Sony is heavily involved in Blu-ray it is a possibility that the company has exclusive rights to support it in game consoles.

It is still unconfirmed whether the Xbox will be delayed or whether Microsoft will go around it and will decide to use a proprietary format like Nintendo implemented on the Wii U.

The next generation of Xbox console is expected to be announced on the 21st of May this year and was expected to be launched during the holiday season. The new Xbox might not become available earlier than the first quarter of 2014.

However, Microsoft will face stiff competition with the release of Playstation 4. Sony's upcoming next generation console is scheduled for release the holiday season of 2013.