scotland wrote:Atarifever wrote:Why does everyone, on every website I've seen (not just here) keep comparing this to Netflix.
I pulled it right from the Polygon headline. You can certainly argue its not new, and its not news, but it is a subscription based library of media available for download, and 'so, kinda like Netflix for video games' is a totally reasonable and appropriate shorthand.
Sorry, should have phrased that differently, seeing it was obvious why you used the wording you did. Didn't mean to imply there was nothing to talk about or that you should have somehow used wording different than the artcile you were directly linking.
What surprises me is that this wording is so obviously from the Microsoft marketing department. They don't want to compare to failed experiements, so they compare to the one big success in streaming pay services. However, why the games media (IGN posted the Netflix thing too, as did some tech sites) is going with that is beyond me. Streaming games got their first big, IGN and Gamespot covered splash with Onlive, which had real big games (I played an Arkam game on there once), a lot of financial backing, and headlines all about the death of physical media. That was, like, 7 years ago. Nvidia has had a game streaming service for some time now IIRC, and promotes it with the Shield thing they sell. Most importantly, Playstation, Xbox's main competitor, has a similar technology already launched, updated, and practically dying already after multiple years on a bunch of devices.
Given all the examples from this exact industry, it's kind of odd I think to see why any site not directly owned by Microsoft would be making the Netflix comparison rather than one of the others. My previous example actually misses the point a bit. See, this is where an EXACT analog of this service exists in the industry it is in, and media that covers that industry is going to look elsewhere for their comparison, which is, at the least, odd.
It is like if Nintendo started a brick and Mortar set of shops that rented physical movies for a fraction of their purchase cost and charged late fees when you brought them back late and every site that covers home video said "it's like a book lending public library, but for movies and with a fee." You'd be like "NO! It's like Blockbuster!"
It may seem like a minor thing to some people, but this clearly shows me how willingly games media "drink the Kool Aid" from marketing. Microsoft clearly benefits from comparing this to Netflix, and would want that to be the story, so they will tell the story that way. The last thing they want is to be comparatively slow to the game, or compared to all the failed or unimportant examples of this that are already out there. Games media have no reason to make such a convoluted comparison, other than a desire to relay the exact message Microsoft fed them.