Netflix on Xbox a hit!

February 5, 2009 by Jin
Filed under Games, Recent, movies

So this morning, I read about the success of the Netflix Live application. Netflix Live allows Xbox Live Gold members to watch movies and television if they are also subscribed to Netflix. As the article states, “Netflix on 360 is big business” with having 1.5 billion minutes of movies and television being watched by Xbox Live members, and having one million users download the Netflix application. Read the rest of the article if you care to, but most of it is just Netflix’s CEO doing the typical marketing spin about Netflix providing convenience and value.

Having a set top box, usually a toaster-like contraption that’s really a simple computer, play Netflix through your Internet connection is nothing new. Nor is the Netflix Live service, which was announced back in November. However, you still have to be impressed with the savvy synergy of Netflix on Xbox Live. There are millions of Xbox 360 owners and with Netflix Live, Netflix has carved up yet another distribution medium for its products and services. If they play this smart, Netflix Live for the Wii and Netflix Mobile for the iPhone won’t be far behind.

I’ve never been that impressed with high definition DVD devices being included with gaming consoles. Sure, many console games come in a DVD type format so it’s easy to see why such a feature is included in most game consoles as a throw-in. However, even when some of these consoles were introduced, the ability to stream movies was already gaining steam. It might have been a better strategy to introduce a network service like Xbox Live up front and forgo the player of high def DVDs to make the consoles more affordable.

The Xbox - Netflix alliance also solves another tricky hurdle: piracy. Sure, the Xbox platform can be hacked and I’m sure someone has figured out how to get movies out of the Netflix Live application for free. However, I’d wager the piracy rate on that platform is significantly lower than the wholesale theft that occurs on the PC. Much like many gaming developers are moving to either MMOs with centralized servers or to consoles, movie distributors will follow the same trend. Proprietary channels for movie distribution will definitely be something we’ll see more. There may be even some Netflix Live exclusives that forgo DVD and PC-downloadable mediums altogether.

The success of the Netflix Live service is an example of entreneurial success that seems quite rare in these these times; however, it may also foreshadow a significant trend to move away from DVDs and more open formats of downloadable movies.

Share and Enjoy: