Netflix Account Sharing, Amazon Prime, Xbox 360: The Week of U-Turns?

Within a few days, three large tech companies in Netflix, Amazon and Microsoft announced changes that were criticized at least by customers in many places – and were withdrawn by the respective companies within a very short time. The Netflix streaming service, for example, caused displeasure with its long-planned plan to curb account sharing and charge additional fees for it. The withdrawal followed only a little later – an announcement or even a reason why Netflix is ​​not (for the time being) charging any fees for sharing accounts is still pending. Instead, the newly established account sharing rules were wordlessly removed.

Amazon, which also wanted to make an adjustment that was unpopular with customers, was a little more communicative. The minimum order value for free deliveries without a valid Prime subscription should be raised to 39 euros. The withdrawal took place on the same day: In a statement, Amazon admitted that the change was an “unintentional error” and that the minimum order value of 29 euros specified on the Amazon help page still applies. In contrast to Netflix, the online mail order company has at least not made any plans public that this should change in the future – on the other hand, the original change came more or less out of nowhere.

While the Xbox 360 Marketplace is showing its age, a post on its Microsoft support page announcing the end of the store in May 2023 was met with no less disapproval. Here, too, it is said to be an accidental posting, as a Microsoft spokeswoman told the portal The Verge confirmed: The marketplace for the Xbox 360 should definitely be closed “not in May”. Separately, on February 7th, a number of games will be removed from the Xbox 360 store, including both Left 4 Dead installments or Half-Life: The Orange Box, as the company says in an associated list shows.

Different future scenarios can now be recorded for all three projects: The fact that Netflix wants to continue to take action against account sharing and is considering new measures is considered just as certain as the future end of the Xbox 360 marketplace. At Amazon, on the other hand, it could actually have been a mistake, so customers don’t have to fear any unpleasant adjustments.

However, if more cynical comments online are to be believed, the sudden change and roll backwards was part of Amazon’s deliberate strategy to dampen criticism if the new minimum order value is actually finally increased. A similar process could finally be observed in a completely different place: After Elon Musk publicly introduced a monthly fee of 20 euros for verified Twitter accounts shortly after the takeover of Twitter (as always), the monetization of the blue tick finally started for 7.99 euros. It doesn’t matter what the future looks like in the three areas: None of the companies has covered themselves with glory in view of the zigzag course.

Three U-turns in one week: Curious coincidence or targeted corporate tactics? You can use the comment function to let us know what you think. You would need to be logged in to PCGH or the Extreme forums to comment. If you don’t have an account yet, you can create one free registration think about it, which has many advantages.