Netflix Kills Qwikster

[Mike Kayatta]

Netflix Kills Qwikster

Reed Hastings hopes that when DVDs come back to Netflix, customers might do the same.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has officially u-turned the decision to split his company into two separate services [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113112-Netflix-Splitting-Streaming-and-Rental-Services-into-Two-Companies] (one for physical rentals and one for online streaming) mere weeks after first announcing the controversial split. Unlike recent changes such as service price hikes and the formation of Qwikster, the reversal was announced quietly on the official Netflix blog instead of via mass e-mailings to its membership.

"It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs," Hastings wrote. "This means no change: one website, one account, one password... in other words, no Qwikster."

The post also went on to describe the July price increase as a "necessary" one, but promised that the company is "now done with price changes." With prices now fixed (for as long as Netflix can stay true to those words), and the company remaining unified, customers will just have to hope that it can stay afloat by using its current model. With increasing trouble brewing in the U.S. Postal Service, the loss of popular streaming content [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112743-Netflix-Losing-Streaming-Rights-to-Movies-TV], and rising competition from services such as Amazon Prime, this may be a difficult task.

Still, the one good thing to come from Qwikster's initial announcement was that videogames would be added to the physical rental service, something that longtime Netflix junkies have clamored for since the rise of Game Fly. Sadly, Hastings' terse post said nothing of whether videogames would still be coming to Netflix or when, and with the company serving up one unpredictable move after another, any speculation at this point is difficult.

It's interesting to note that unlike the previous cavalcade of Netflix changes we've been bombarded with recently, this statement didn't contain a single iteration of the word "sorry." As far as I'm concerned that's a step in the right direction. Maybe part of the problem Netflix has been having in holding on to its investors and customers has been because it's placated to them too much. After all, every time someone hears the words "I apologize" it makes them immediately feel as they've been wronged. Perhaps if Netflix had tried to make Qwikster exciting instead of marketing it like the leftover product of compromise, things would have gone better for it.

Source: The Netflix Blog [http://blog.netflix.com/2011/10/dvds-will-be-staying-at-netflixcom.html]

Permalink

 

[GonzoGamer]

I was wondering when they would come to their senses.
I feel bad for the shareholders: the damage is done.

I feel like Netflix is a friend who's taken some bad acid and is only now starting to come down.

 

[Braedan]

I'm not sure I understand what the problem was, besides the stupid name.

The people who want movies in the mail won't be streaming, and the people with the capability to stream won't wait for movies to come in the mail. I see no downside of splitting the company, unless you want games as well as streaming movies.

Unless I'm missing a part of the picture. I'm here in freezing old Canada so I don't have access to the dvd by mail system.... or anything worth watching on stream either.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Well... that didn't last very long...

 

[Something Amyss]

The people who want movies in the mail won't be streaming, and the people with the capability to stream won't wait for movies to come in the mail.

That's clearly not true.

It also assumes all content is available both ways. People using the by mail service for movies not available instantly on streaming. I'm not sure why you believe otherwise, but you are quite incorrect.

 

[Ne1butme]

I'm not sure I understand what the problem was, besides the stupid name.

The people who want movies in the mail won't be streaming, and the people with the capability to stream won't wait for movies to come in the mail. I see no downside of splitting the company, unless you want games as well as streaming movies.

Unless I'm missing a part of the picture. I'm here in freezing old Canada so I don't have access to the dvd by mail system.... or anything worth watching on stream either.

If both services contained identical content, then there would be no reason to have both streaming and mail-dvds. But there is a lot of movies/TV episodes that are only available via the physical DVD.

It's not even consistent within an entire TV series. I've seen instances where most of the episodes can be streamed, but 1 or 2 episodes will be DVD only. That makes no sense to me at all.

 

[thethird0611]

Gotta say, even though he did some damage, he did the right thing listening to his customers instead of being stubborn and continuing to launch Qwickster.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I'm not sure I understand what the problem was, besides the stupid name.

The people who want movies in the mail won't be streaming, and the people with the capability to stream won't wait for movies to come in the mail. I see no downside of splitting the company, unless you want games as well as streaming movies.

Unless I'm missing a part of the picture. I'm here in freezing old Canada so I don't have access to the dvd by mail system.... or anything worth watching on stream either.

If both services contained identical content, then there would be no reason to have both streaming and mail-dvds. But there is a lot of movies/TV episodes that are only available via the physical DVD.

It's not even consistent within an entire TV series. I've seen instances where most of the episodes can be streamed, but 1 or 2 episodes will be DVD only. That makes no sense to me at all.

And THEN, there's stuff that's available for streaming but with no dvd available to rent: like Tom Waits' Big Time. But that doesn't happen as frequently.

The annoying thing would've been having to log into both sites to compare rather than just going to netflix, looking up the movie, and then seeing if you need to rent the disc or if you can stream.

 

[Stilt-Man]

I gotta say, I'm impressed that Netflix isn't going through with "Qwikster". I really hope they can recover from everything this year.

 

[Irridium]

I feel this is somewhat relevant:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix

Anyway, glad to hear this. Shame Netflix is as it is. It was once so lovely. Mainly because of the low price. Never gave a shit about streaming since I can't do it on my connection.

 

[Quaidis]

I feel this is somewhat relevant:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/netflix

Anyway, glad to hear this. Shame Netflix is as it is. It was once so lovely. Mainly because of the low price. Never gave a shit about streaming since I can't do it on my connection.

That comic was hilarious!

Well, time to go back to watching Netflix's stock crash.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Wait, what's going on with the USPS? Did I miss something somewhere?

 

[moviedork]

I'm not sure I understand what the problem was, besides the stupid name.

The people who want movies in the mail won't be streaming, and the people with the capability to stream won't wait for movies to come in the mail. I see no downside of splitting the company, unless you want games as well as streaming movies.

Unless I'm missing a part of the picture. I'm here in freezing old Canada so I don't have access to the dvd by mail system.... or anything worth watching on stream either.

If you were one of the people willing to pay for both dvd and streaming, the thing that people didn't like about Quickster is that they had to sign up for the site again. Their credit cards would have to be reentered, as well as all their ratings from netflix. In short: nothing would be transferred over to the other site.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I'm not sure I understand what the problem was, besides the stupid name.

The people who want movies in the mail won't be streaming, and the people with the capability to stream won't wait for movies to come in the mail. I see no downside of splitting the company, unless you want games as well as streaming movies.

Unless I'm missing a part of the picture. I'm here in freezing old Canada so I don't have access to the dvd by mail system.... or anything worth watching on stream either.

If both services contained identical content, then there would be no reason to have both streaming and mail-dvds. But there is a lot of movies/TV episodes that are only available via the physical DVD.

It's not even consistent within an entire TV series. I've seen instances where most of the episodes can be streamed, but 1 or 2 episodes will be DVD only. That makes no sense to me at all.

And THEN, there's stuff that's available for streaming but with no dvd available to rent: like Tom Waits' Big Time. But that doesn't happen as frequently.

The annoying thing would've been having to log into both sites to compare rather than just going to netflix, looking up the movie, and then seeing if you need to rent the disc or if you can stream.

Then there was just the practical nuisance of having to maintain one account for Netflix and a separate one for Quikster. Plus a third, if you wanted the videogames, too.

 

[moviedork]

I'm happy that Netflix learned the error of their ways and actually listened to the complaints instead of sticking their heads in the sand. While this doesn't change the price back, it's still best deal out there at this time!

 

[GonzoGamer]

I'm not sure I understand what the problem was, besides the stupid name.

The people who want movies in the mail won't be streaming, and the people with the capability to stream won't wait for movies to come in the mail. I see no downside of splitting the company, unless you want games as well as streaming movies.

Unless I'm missing a part of the picture. I'm here in freezing old Canada so I don't have access to the dvd by mail system.... or anything worth watching on stream either.

If both services contained identical content, then there would be no reason to have both streaming and mail-dvds. But there is a lot of movies/TV episodes that are only available via the physical DVD.

It's not even consistent within an entire TV series. I've seen instances where most of the episodes can be streamed, but 1 or 2 episodes will be DVD only. That makes no sense to me at all.

And THEN, there's stuff that's available for streaming but with no dvd available to rent: like Tom Waits' Big Time. But that doesn't happen as frequently.

The annoying thing would've been having to log into both sites to compare rather than just going to netflix, looking up the movie, and then seeing if you need to rent the disc or if you can stream.

Then there was just the practical nuisance of having to maintain one account for Netflix and a separate one for Quikster. Plus a third, if you wanted the videogames, too.

And I even think people (especially gamers) would've been willing to put up with the nuisance had the fees stayed as absurdly low and content as absurdly high as they were a few months ago.
Actually, as they had finally released an Android app, I was feeling quite patient with them myself.
The problem is that in the same year they raised prices, announced the split in service, and it seems like every other week there was another media distributor (like Stars & Sho) that was announcing that they were pulling their stuff from the streaming. It seemed like the bad news wasn't ever going to end.
As gamers we're kind of used to paying more for less by the companies we patronize but most other consumers hear sirens when all this stuff happens at once. As we can see, they weren't counting on that.

 

[TitanAura]

I'm going to wait until this whole pot settles. I was going subscribe two months ago.... but you know.

 

[scnj]

I figured this would happen, but not quite this qwikly.

 

[theApoc]

Perhaps if Netflix had tried to make Qwikster exciting instead of marketing it like the leftover product of compromise, things would have gone better for it.

Um, perhaps if they had actually added value to the service in any meaningful way, things would have gone better. They could have marketed the heck out of Qwikster and it would not have made one bit of difference. There aren't many people who would take a 50% price increase to have less convenience and a more limited selection. I just hope, above all else, that the marketing people behind this fiasco were not only fired, but also forced out of their respective careers.