14 DAY TRIAL // Netflix has announced that it will be making a number of changes to its services in the coming months, including adding video game rentals to its new by mail Qwickster service.
The concept behind all the Netflix changes is creating a clear separation between the online streaming features and the physical, by mail, rentals.
Only streaming will keep the original Netflix name and will continue to be offered on PCs and on a number of home consoles.
The new game rental service for Qwickster will include titles for the PlayStation 3 from Sony, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the Nintendo Wii, with the new Wii U presumably included when it comes to the market.
As part of a blog post Reed Hastings, who is the co-founder of Netflix, has offered an explanation saying, “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”, and that Qwicker will keep the same standard of service, being, “merely a renamed version of the Netflix DVD website, but with the addition of video games.”
Netflix has become very popular on home gaming consoles, with statistics from the company showing the half of the users are at the moment getting their content via a device which is also used for gaming.
Statistics have also shown that about 20 percent of peak hour downstream traffic in North America is generated by Netflix streaming via video game consoles, the biggest slice of the pie for any individual source.
The company has also recently announced that it will be launching a new and exclusive show during the fall of the year, called House of Cards, created by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey in the leading role.