Kinect support for Netflix
Today we released an update to the Netflix experience on Xbox 360. The next time you start up Netflix, you'll be prompted to accept the update which introduces Kinect support for Netflix. — That means controller-free navigation of thousands of movies and TV show …
Context & Ripple Effects
Netflix has spent three years making consoles its primary distribution wedge: HD streaming arrived on the Xbox 360 first back in October 2008, and Sony closed the gap when the PS3 app hit 1080p with 5.1 surround and dropped the disc requirement in late 2010. With picture quality now at parity across both platforms, the differentiation battle moves to the interface layer — which is exactly where today's update lands.
The timing matters against Netflix's own content arc: the company is heading into a fall with its Starz digital deal set to expire, has just bought the streaming rights to House of Cards, and carries rumors of a reported $100 million Miramax library deal — all signs it is doubling down on streaming while the catalog churns. Giving Xbox 360 viewers a new way to browse thousands of titles keeps engagement high on the platform where its console relationship started.
First-order effects
- Xbox 360 owners who own Kinect get controller-free navigation of the Netflix catalog via voice and gestures, prompted through a mandatory app update on next launch.
- Microsoft gains a flagship demonstration of Kinect doing something useful beyond games, strengthening the peripheral's value proposition inside the living room.
Second-order effects
- Sony faces pressure to give the PS3 Netflix app an equivalent hands-free input story, since 1080p parity means it can no longer win the comparison on video quality alone.
- Microsoft now has a proven template — a major third-party media app rebuilt around Kinect input — that lowers the friction for negotiating similar updates with other streaming and TV partners on Xbox Live.
Third-order effects
- If voice-and-gesture navigation proves out on the biggest streaming app, living-room platforms will increasingly compete on natural user interfaces rather than resolution specs, with the app partners whose catalogs are largest becoming the proving ground.
- For Netflix, deeper OS-level integration into each console raises switching costs per platform but also entangles it more tightly with each partner's hardware roadmap — a dependency that cuts both ways if exclusivity windows return.
The trend: Console makers are shifting their streaming-app competition from video quality, where parity has been reached, to natural user interfaces like Kinect's voice and gesture control.