Strenuous Streaming Services
All I Want for Christmas
Are Less Hostage Taking
Streaming Service
By Yahoo Silverman
What do Marvel shows (with the exception of those killed by Disney+), The Office, Parks & Rec, and Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions have in common? Not Netflix, at least not anymore (I understand that Love Chunibyo & Other Delusions may be a more niche example, but Dekomori is literally figuratively my spirit animal to the point where my name was almost Dekolessy, rather than a play on the name Whoopi Goldberg it currently is, gif of Dekomori below for immersion.)
Fact: every 5 seconds in the U.S. an upper management suit for some large corporation utters the phrase “we should start a streaming service” and no less than a dozen of that suits underlings nod in approval while sharing the same thought of “why couldn’t this had been said in an email”. I try to stay out of politics on this page, except for when I don’t, but I think all sides of the political spectrum can agree that the last three administrations have handled the streaming service pandemic horribly.
Competition is good, and the lack of it has resulted in my not buying a Madden game in years not to mention is the main reason why no matter which state I’ve lived in I’ve always appropriately exclaimed “freaking Comcast!” whenever my internet went out. Having said that, I do not consider most of these streaming services to be “competitive”, but rather paid services that pull their properties from other services to hold them hostage behind some clunky UI that spells UX with an S up front. HBO Max is less responsive on PS4 than any girl I’ve ever asked on a date, although this may be a little hyperbolic.
The goal of a streaming platform shouldn’t be to sell you on the shows and movies it contains, but rather sell you on the convenience, quality, and experience their service has to offer. Xbox Game Pass is a good example of how to approach the paid service market appropriately and see tremendous results. For $10-$15 per month you have hundreds of game titles to choose from, and while titles that aren’t owned by Microsoft are only there for a limited period (which given the whole “tendency towards monopoly” concept may be an ever-shrinking number) once they are made unavailable, they are discounted for Game Pass subscribers. You play a game you may have otherwise not because ostensibly it's free meaning that it's included with and delivers value towards the monthly cost and based on how much you enjoy the game, you will invest more and more of your time. Once the period of availability ends you may want to capitalize on your initial investment and buy the title, which is now available to you at a discounted price. The publisher/developer are paid for allowing their title on Game Pass which may entice more users to buy the title thus increasing their sales numbers. All the while Microsoft recieves a portion of any sales made via their platform and has more than 15 million subscribers paying at least $10 a month (the total subscriber number is rumored to be between 25 and 30 million subscribers as of now. (suace)
If your reading this led you to shouting, “Yahoo, Game Pass is not a streaming service? Why did you write all of that!” then first of all, lower voice you look ridiculous. Secondly, Steam is why I wrote this. I can not tell you how many people I have spoken to that said they use Game Pass as often or more often than they use Steam (actually, I can tell you. It’s 6, but I only know like 30 people so if we treat those 6 as a sample size then we can assume 20% of the world would agree. Don’t overthink all that.). People are not just using Game Pass for the games, they’re paying for the service and the convenience it offers. For the first time in nearly a decade, Microsoft shareholders don’t hate Xbox.
So, what can we take away from that? As much as Game Pass cannot solely rely on the games their service offers in order to retain users, streaming platforms cannot solely rely on their properties to sell their service (especially since VPN’s and anti-viruses are getting better and more affordable, that is all I will say about the non-tech savvy population eventually rediscovering Torrenting). What can Peacock or HBO Max offer me that a thumb drive can’t, other than “legality”?
In May of 2012 the CD Projekt owned GOG.com's Managing Director, Guillaume Ramboug, said in relation to DRM (digital rights management) being forced into games “let me dispel the myth about DRM protecting anything. The truth is it does not work”(sauce). What he alludes to is that if people like your game, they’ll buy it, and tying it to a worse experience won’t protect you from pirating. If I like your service, I’ll pay for it. I appreciate the convenience and experience of Netflix to the point where even when they raised their rates, I never once considered finding an alternative way to watch Netflix produced content (depending on who is reading this, it’s because pirating is illegal of course. I wouldn’t Torrent a car, would I?).
To wrap things up I will quote what every Zoomer and Millennial that is cooler than me, which is almost every Zoomer and Millennial, has said on Twitter at least once… “do better”.
