Netflix seems to be testing the waters with a new subscription plan in Kenya. The popular content streaming service is offering a new, free subscription tier in the African country. The new subscription will allow access to all of Netflix’s features including profiles and kids mode.
However, the free subscription does come with some limitations. The first being that the subscription is only available for Android phones. Users on the free subscription will also not have access to Netflix’s full library. Instead, they will only be able to access a fourth of the expansive library. In addition, features like screencasting and downloading shows will not be accessible.
Source: Netflix
The subscription will be available only in Kenya for now. Netflix has indicated that, as of now, there are no plans to expand the availability. Would-be subscribers will only need an email address and proof that they are above 18 years of age to subscribe. The plan will be rolled out in Kenya over the next few weeks. Netflix has indicated that it sees the free plan as a means of gathering new subscribers to the service.
Netflix has pretty much changed the way we consume contents. To be fair, this whole streaming business started becoming a thing when YouTube started blowing up. To be fair to that also, YouTube’s rise to popularity is contributed by the increase in interest with short form contents and independent content creators.
In some sense Netflix’s rise in popularity is a little different than YouTube’s astronomical rise. Of course, Netflix has been in the general entertainment industry for longer than we know them to be the top Over-The-Top (OTT) content streaming service known to man today. Instead of dabbling in independent film makers, Netflix dabbles is offering the big budget film and on-demand TV shows on a single platform. You can watch all that Netflix has to offer in terms of films and TV shows at any time you want and at an affordable price. It did for films what Spotify has done for music. It democratizes big budget contents that were traditionally made for a scheduled TV programme or even the theatres. It put the controls of consuming these contents right in your palms and at home.
Their disruptive business model proves to be a winner with us, the users. Netflix, currently anyway, is still the top performing content streaming platform in the world with a huge global presence. Their success in the world of end-user entertainment platform leads to plenty of “me too” products we see today like Amazon’s Prime Video, Paramount+, HBO Max, and even Disney+.
While Netflix is still the king in content streaming platforms, they want to be more than just providing watched contents. They want to dabble in interactive contents. You can see Netflix experimenting with interactive contents when you look back into Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a kind of movie where you can decide what your ending would be. It is like playing a game, except you are doing it on your browser and it involves a live-action content.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, while a successful endeavour, is a huge undertaking though. It is time consuming to create, it is also complex to work with, which are all usually translated into the final cost of production in terms of currency. There is a cheaper way to do what Netflix wanted to do with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, create actual games and host them on Netflix itself. That is what they want to do into the future though.
Netflix’s own exclusives have inspired games like Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3. While they are not strictly games you play on the PC or even a console, they are still games that puts you in the shoes of the main characters imagined from the Netflix exclusive series, ‘Stranger Things’. Yes, we are saying that they are mobile games.
Let’s talk Netflix and gaming.
Today members in Poland can try Netflix mobile gaming on Android with two games, Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3. It’s very, very early days and we’ve got a lot of work to do in the months ahead, but this is the first step. https://t.co/yOl44PGY0r
So, Netflix is trying to make games and launch a gaming platform of their own. That is nothing new though. Since Google announced their Stadia platform, their competitors have all been jumping on board and are betting their futures with Cloud Gaming. In other words, everyone wants to get into game streaming, since the gaming industry is on a steady rise. Netflix wants that piece of action too.
Of course, at this time, Netflix has only confirmed that they are going to be integrating mobile games into their platform instead of a whole dive into cloud gaming. In that sense, Netflix Poland has already started testing their gaming platform. The experience, so far, has not been reportedly great though.
You are not accessing a completely different app, which is great news. While you are accessing the Netflix app to get to the games that are on offer though, it is not the third-party app store experience that Netflix wants you to believe at this time. The games that are on offer, at least according to current reports, are the two Stranger Things titles we mentioned earlier. They are not cloud based gaming as well, at this time anyway. You still have to download the games to play the games. Users are also led to the Google Play Store for the games to be downloaded too.
Once downloaded though, the games can only be launched via the Netflix app, which is a little counterintuitive. The games are tied to your Netflix credentials instead of your Google Play credentials though, which kind of makes sense. Reportedly also, the games you play through Netflix will not feature any ads or in-app purchases. Currently also, Netflix is focusing on bringing mobile optimised games on their platform, hence the test starts with smartphones. In some sense, it does sound a lot like Netflix is trying to create a platform that is likened to Apple Arcade. Unlike Apple’s Arcade though, membership is free as long as you have an active subscription with Netflix, for now anyway.
At the time of writing, there are only two game titles available on Netflix’s gaming section. The test is also only currently conducted in Poland with no other regions being confirmed at this time. Netflix also says that the iteration that is being tested in Poland is a very early development. While it does not feature cloud gaming yet at this time, it is not ruled out, at least from our point of view anyway. Still, would you play games on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
The time has come to head to Rivia! Fans of the popular series – The Witcher – are in for a treat come July 10, 2021 as the first ever WitcherCon is happening! The conference will bring together the cinematic and game universes of The Witcher in a never before seen, multi-format event.
Source: Netflix
The day-long event kicks off first in the wee hours of 10th July in Malaysia at 1 am – that’s 7 pm CEST on 9th July 2021 in Europe and 10 am PST in the U.S. – on Twitch and YouTube. There will be a second stream happening at 9 am on 10th July in Malaysia – 3 am CEST on 10 July in Europe and 6 pm on 10th July in the U.S. – on the same platforms. According to Netflix, there will be exclusive announcements on each stream!
The event will be hosted by popular Twitch and YouTube personality, Julia Hardy. Hardy is arguably most well known for her Game to Train fitness programme where you can get fit around routines from popular game characters. She’s also hosted Runefest and Minecon previously. It will be giving fans an exclusive look at never-before-seen footage and insights from the production of the Witcher Universe.
WitcherCon will be featuring a series of panels and features with the stars and creators from both the popular game series and the hit Netflix series – The Witcher. Everything from GWENT, the Witcher’s card game to the many formats the Witcher’s story will be told in will be covered in the event. Fans of the series will get their burning questions about Season 2 of The Witcher answered by showrunners and stars of the series. CD Projekt Red will also be taking fans behind the scenes and into the future of The Witcher.
There will also be a special sitdown with Henry Cavill where he will delve into the nitty-gritty of fantasy, destiny and the wider Witcher Universe. Netflix has teased that the White Wolf may have a few surprises during his sitdown.
Source: Netflix
You’ll be able to tune in to WitcherCon on both YouTube and Twitch come 10th July! Details on panels, announcements and more can also be gotten from the official WitcherCon website.
This episode is brought to you by Acer. Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU from Acer from the 10th May 2021 onward!
In this episode of Tech & Tonic, we discuss the growing number of streaming services. Disney+ Hotstar is finally making its way into Malaysia after a long wait. Disney+ Hotstar joins Malaysia’s long list of streaming platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go, Astro Go, iflix, and a few others.
Is having more streaming services a good thing though? Does it still make sense for you to pay for Cable TV services like Astro in Malaysia, especially with certain channels being removed with the introduction of Disney+ Hotstar? Do we need more streaming platforms at this time? Would Disney+ be better than the rest of the platforms?
We discuss this and more in the Tech & Tonic Podcast.
A lot of us share accounts when it comes to streaming services. Sometimes it’s with close friends, other times its with family. However, it seems like Netflix isn’t very fond of sharing even though their platform allows up to five profiles in a single user. The company has long been trying to limit account sharing as more and more people seem to be doing it.
In its latest efforts, Netflix seems to be testing out a feature that may make sharing an account more of a hassle. Users who have been sharing accounts are reporting that they are seeing prompts for them to verify the account or sign up for a new account.
In their new effort, it seems like Netflix is trying hard to weed out sharing. In fact, while the practice isn’t illegal, it technically goes against their terms of service – if you don’t reside in the same household. However, the company has acknowledged that the practice is inevitable and a valuable marketing channel. That said, a spokesperson has come on the record to clarify stating, “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,”.
It comes as no surprise that Netflix is testing ways to make life a little bit harder for people who are sharing accounts as account piracy has also become increasingly common among Netflix users. If you’ve had your Netflix account compromise, you will be painfully aware that aside from sharing, incidences, where accounts are being accessed by total strangers, are not unheard of.
While it seems like the company is clamping down on “unauthorised” access, the move comes at an interesting time. Disney+ recently reported that their subscriber numbers have surpassed their initial expectations. The new streaming service reported that they are well over 100 million subscribers – something Netflix co-CEO, Reed Hastings, claimed to be impossible in an interview with CNBC.
Netflix has rolled out a new iOS exclusive feature they call ‘Fast Laughs’, aat least it is exclusive for now. The feature is very similar to TikTok, full-screen short video streaming platform. Like TikTok as well, you interact by swiping vertically, and you can engage with the creator that you like via the engagement buttons on the side like the “LOL” button. Users can also share the short clips to their family and friends on multiple platforms or drag it to ‘My List’ so that you can watch the full film later.
This feature will be accessible from the bottom navigation tab, right beside the ‘Coming Soon’ tab. Short clips on “Fast Laughs” ranges anywhere from 15 to 45 seconds. Of course, the feature will not be avaialble on Netflix Kids’ profile because clips can be inappropriate.
At this time, “Fast Laughs” will be a sort of gateway for users to the comedy world that exists in Netflix. “Fast Laughs” at this time will feature clips from the comedy catalog with films like “Murder Mystery”, “big Mouth”, “the Crew”, and even snippets from stand-up comedians like Kevin Hart and Ali Wong. While the feature is only tapping into their “Netflix Originals” Comedy catalog within Netflix, they also said that they are looking to allow the feature to tap into their full catalog later on.
This feature is now available for iOS users in selected countries like U.S, Canada, UK, Australia, and Ireland. Netflix is also looking to be testing the feature on Android devices soon. Netflix is a free app available on both iOS and Android via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store respectively. While the app is free, there is a subscription fee. For more information, do visit the Netflix blog.
Being on-the-go with spotty internet can be a very irritating predicament; even more so when you’re trying to play catch up with your new binge-worthy show. Three years ago, Netflix addressed that with Smart Downloads which automatically downloaded the next episode of your show. This allowed you to seamlessly enjoy your show without any interruptions.
This year, they’re taking it one step further with Downloads For You. The new feature automatically downloads shows or movies that Netflix thinks you’d like. Rest assured, you won’t be dealing with terabytes of data being downloaded into your device – unless that’s what you want. Users will be able to control how much space the new feature takes up.
Managing the feature is as easy as going to the downloads tab and toggling the Downloads For You option. After which users will be able to select how much data the feature should take up – 1GB, 3GB, or 5GB. Of course, the more data you allow it to take up, the more content you get.
The feature is now available to Netflix users with an Android device. Netflix is working to get the feature on their iOS app soon.
Valve’s popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, DOTA 2, is making its way to a silver screen near you. The popular game will be making its silver screen debut on Netflix in a new anime series called DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. It will be making it debut on March 25, 2021.
The 8-episode anime series will be following the story of Davion, one of the characters from the MOBA. In the anime, Davion is a devoted Dragon Knight. He fights to rid the world of the scourge. During his journeys, he encounters a powerful, ancient eldwurm and Princess Mirana. Unbeknownst to Davion, the princess is on a mission of her own. Slowly, but surely, Davion is pulled into events that prove to be larger than he could ever imagine.
The series is produced in partnership with Valve. Showrunner, Ashley Edward Miller, is confident that the show will be received well by fans. Miller previously worked on shows such as X-Men: First Class, Thor and Black Sails and will be also acting as the executive producer for DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. Miller is joined by Ru Ki Hyun as the co-executive producer. The series is animated by Studio MIR, the studio behind The Legend of Korra, Voltron: Legendary Defender and the recently announced The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.
“Fans will love how we’ve imagined the DOTA 2 universe and woven together an epic, emotional, and adult-oriented story about some of their favourite characters. The cinematic animation, acting and music are simply next level and I’m grateful to Valve for supporting our creative ambitions.”
Ashley Edward Miller, Showrunner & Executive Producer
While this is big news for the IP (Intellectual Property), Davion is widely considered one of the less interesting characters in the MOBA. It will be exciting to see what team behind the anime have in mind for the character and whether they will stick to the established lore of DOTA.
With Malaysia and other countries going into another lockdown or, as Malaysia’s government puts it CMCO, we have a feeling a lot of us are going to need some suggestions to keep us busy and entertained. Of course, the one thing that most countries have is Netflix – so here’s our list of 5 series you can binge during the lock down. It goes without saying that the availability of the shows are based on Netflix’s Malaysian library as we are based here. However, you should be able to get these shows on one or more streaming services in your respective countries.
1. Breaking Bad
Source: mypostercollection
Named the “highest-rated TV series” by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2013, it is an American neo-Western crime drama produced by Vince Giligan. The drama consists of five seasons with a total of 62 episodes. This is a story about an underpaid and dispirited high school chemistry teacher (Walter White) who is struggling with stage-three lung cancer. Walter White turns to a life of crime, where he partners with his former student, Jesse Pinkman, by producing and distributing crystallized methamphetamine in order to secure his family’s finances before he dies, while navigating the dangers of the criminal underworld.
2. Black Mirror
Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones seen at the ‘Black Mirror’ panel Q&A at the FYSee exhibit space on Friday, May 19, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Blair Raughley/Invision for Netflix/AP Images)
A British dystopian science anthology television series with five seasons created by Charlie Brooker. This show focuses on modern society, particularly with regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies on how it may affect our future. This show can be interesting as it might inspire you to take a break from using your phone all day long. The episodes are standalone, and are usually set in an alternative present or the near future, often with a dark and satirical tone.
3. Shameless
A story that might make you appreciate your family more. Shameless is a story of a family of six kids with their drunk and selfish father. Fiona, being the eldest sister, has to raise the rest of the family on her own. Staying with a father that takes everything and offers nothing, they had no choice but to steal food and money for a living.
4. Grey’s Anatomy
An American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27 2005. 15 seasons are available online on Netflix while the 16th season is currently airing on ABC. This is a fictional series that focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents and attendings as they develop into seasoned doctors while balancing their personal and professional relationships.
The series recently became the longest running medical drama beating previous title holder, ER. Produced by Shonda Rhimes, it is bound to give you hours of emotional ups and downs and keep you on the edge of your seats.
5. Parks and Recreation.
A TV show with 7 seasons. This is a story of protagonist, Leslie Knope, a mid-level bureaucrat in an Indiana Parks and Recreation Department. The protagonist was hoping to beautify the town and at the same time boost her own career by helping the local nurse, Ann Perkins, to turn an abandoned construction site into a community park. Nevertheless, it seems to be a simple project but the protagonist has been facing ups and downs where she was being interfered by oafish bureaucrats, selfish neighbors, governmental red tape and a myriad of other challenges.
Malaysia’s largest pay TV operator, Astro Malaysia Holdings, is looking to start a streaming service to take on deep-pocketed, international rivals such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Astro is planning to launch a new streaming service sometime in 2021. The service will mainly focus on the original content made by the pay-TV company. This includes their numerous productions spanning multiple genres such as movies, series, and variety shows. Naturally, the main audience Astro is looking at for now, is the Malaysian audience.
Source: Astro Malaysia
Astro’s ability to subsidize local content production and its understanding of the market gives it and added advantage over global competitors. The report by Nikkei also pointed out that Astro is relying on its knowledge on the Malaysian market as well as its extensive customer, marketing, and sales reach in order to attract other content providers. Astro will be a natural partner to welcome any companies that are seeking to enter the Malaysia market . Astro has so far partnered with HBO GO and China’s iQIYI which aligns with Astro’s efforts to position itself as a “super aggregator” of digital content.
As it enters the Streaming (known in the industry as over the top (OTT)) it will be looking at catering to different groups which have emerged. This can be seen from the pricing strategies adopted by its competition which caters to unique groups with different psychologies. However, it seems that one thing that may take anyone by surprise, the pay TV operator isn’t going to banking on its brand for the streaming service opting to go with a completely new brand.
