In the face of raging fans and looming confusion, Netflix today said they are killing off their DVD mailing spin-off Qwikster.
"This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster," according to a post on Netflix's official blog by founder Reed Hastings. "Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that. There is a difference between moving quickly — which Netflix has done very well for years — and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."
Back in September, the company, which streams movies and television via computer, console and phone, said that they would be splitting the business in two. The Netflix half focusing solely on internet video streaming and a new company, Qwikster, handling the old school shipment of DVDs and Blu-ray discs by mail. It's also about to start renting video games.
"One improvement we will make at [Qwikster's] launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games," Hastings wrote at the time. "Members have been asking for video games for many years, and now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done."
This morning Reed wrote that while the July price changes were necessary, they are now done with price changes.
"We're constantly improving our streaming selection. We've recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax," he wrote. "Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we've added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.
"We value our members, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get movies & TV shows."
Neither Reed nor the press release address their earlier video game rental plans, but we've reached out to the company for comment.
DVDs will be staying at netflix.com [Netflix]
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