Netflix Puts the Kibosh on Qwikster, Goes Back to Original Plan No One Liked

Published October 10, 2011

By Lindsay Sakraida, dealnews Features Director

In yet another curious twist to the Netflix saga, the company announced today that it won't be splitting its streaming and DVD services into separate sites, like it had previously proposed just three weeks ago. (So, readers, you can cancel your Qwikster deal email alerts now, because there won't be any.)

Most people seem to think this is a good decision, as it's responsive to the immense user dissent that arose after Qwikster was announced (which included a healthy number of our own readers). The separate service would have complicated the DVD and streaming process, with separate queues and no shared information across accounts.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey admitted that the company was "moving too fast" with the site split, and this seems like a fair evaluation. Remember when they created the Qwikster brand, and then didn't bother to check who owns the associated social media names, and suddenly they had to deal with a kid whose profile picture was a drug-toting Elmo? Oh right, that was just three weeks ago. Of course you remember. Anyway, that might support Swasey's theory.

In the end, a whopping 45% of our users said they were going to cancel everything with Netflix — both DVDs and streaming — because of the split, so it's pretty likely that this fix was necessary for the company's survival. And on the plus side, readers, you got what you wanted: We're back to the original movie rental plan you hated!

Image credit: Scott Feldstein via Flickr

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