Where there’s will, there’s a route around a wall – Netflix wasn’t about to bleed subscribers, so it took a calculated bet on Xbox. Microsoft inked a deal making the Netflix app a download exclusive on Xbox 360, while Nintendo and PlayStation users got access through a disc-based solution.

Today, watching shows and movies on current consoles is effortless. With Netflix and other subscription platforms, you search, install, and dive into a packed catalog. In the late 2010s, though, PlayStation and Nintendo users had a different path: an official disc that unlocked streaming access. The odd setup even existed on the legendary PS2, albeit limited to Brazil – and it all traced back to a firm partnership with Microsoft.

A way around Xbox exclusivity

With Xbox 360’s 2005 launch, the company behind hits like Stranger Things saw an opening to plant a flag in living-room gaming. Under the partnership, Xbox players could download the official Netflix app and watch directly from the catalog. That, however, came with an exclusivity clause that blocked a native app on PlayStation and Nintendo.

Did that leave Sony and Nintendo audiences without Netflix? Not quite. To sidestep the contract’s limits, the service leaned on a creative workaround. As detailed by Stop Skeletons From Fighting on YouTube, PS3 and Wii owners could pop in a Netflix disc and stream without installing an application.

Yes, an active subscription was still required, but the maneuver neatly avoided friction with Microsoft. PS3 and Wii users couldn’t install the official app – yet they could still watch via an alternative that wasn’t covered by the original agreement.

As noted, the approach shipped for PS3 and Wii. Netflix also didn’t want to ignore the runaway success of PS2, so it released a disc for Sony’s previous console. Even with PS3 already on the market, Brazil’s player base remained heavily on PS2, the best-selling console ever, making it the ideal test bed in 2009.

The result: Brazilian players were first to stream Netflix on the most popular console of all time. As expected, the disc’s internal files soon appeared online, and the method for connecting a PS2 to Netflix spread worldwide.

The window didn’t stay open for long. Two years later, Netflix determined the PS2 audience streaming via the console was too small to justify the cost, and the servers were shut down. That decision closed a quirky, short chapter in the app’s history.

Source: 3DJuegos