Verbatim Japan and I-OData recently issued a joint statement to expand the scope of cooperation between the two parties and continue to supply recordable Blu-ray related products to the Japanese local market.This is also the second time that the two companies have supported the Japanese Blu-ray market after their statements last year.
The coverage of this updated cooperation commitment has been further expanded. In addition to the original optical disc media, new drive core components are also added, as well as the BD Reco external Blu-ray burner just launched in February this year. The two companies have made it clear that they will make every effort to ensure the supply of parts and components, adjust production lines simultaneously, continue to develop new Blu-ray related products, and stabilize supply in the Japanese domestic market.I-O Data is the exclusive distributor of Verba brand optical storage media in Japan.
In the past 14 months, the Japanese Blu-ray market has experienced an intensive wave of manufacturers exiting the market.Sony shut down the last recordable Blu-ray factory in Japan, completed the delivery of the last batch of local Blu-ray recorders in February this year, and completely exited the business.. Buffalo Japan has announced that it will not launch an iteration of its existing portable USB Blu-ray recorder.
Elecom announced the discontinuation of external optical drives last month, and related products will be completely discontinued in June this year.Earlier, LG had withdrawn from the Blu-ray market in 2024, and its last new Blu-ray product dates back to 2018.
After a large number of manufacturers have withdrawn one after another, Panasonic is the only remaining Blu-ray player manufacturer in Japan. In March this year, Panasonic also publicly apologized for the shortage of orders for its 4K DIGA series DMR-ZR1 video recorders and announced that it would expand production capacity. Data from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industry Association shows that Japan’s domestic Blu-ray player shipments will be approximately 620,000 units in 2025, a sharp decline from the peak of over 6.3 million units in 2011.
Even as the market continues to shrink, demand for Blu-ray storage has not disappeared. The two companies said that the newly launched BD Reco external recorder has received extremely high market attention, which also made them reconfirm that,User demand for "burning important data to physical discs" still exists.. In the future, both parties will continue to plan and iterate Blu-ray related products.
