Netflix has made a big decision. It's about interactive episodes of series

With the premiere of the Black Mirror special entitled Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Netflix intended to revolutionize entertainment. The interactive Bandersnatch gave viewers the opportunity to influence the development of the story. The revolution failed. Interactive series failed to catch on, and the streaming giant has now removed the last two traces of it from its offer.

On May 12, Netflix removed "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch" and a special episode of the series "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt": "Kimmy vs. the Reverend". The giant's move is another precedent showing users that they cannot be sure that all of Netflix's original productions will always be there to watch. And if not there, then where? The interactive nature of the aforementioned episodes makes it virtually impossible to preserve them in their original form in any other way. In turn, if they are changed into a regular, linear episode, they will lose their uniqueness. There are many indications that they will become unavailable when they are removed from Netflix.

“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” was supposed to revolutionize entertainment. About a 1980s video game programmer who begins to question his reality, it gave viewers a choice of how the story would unfold. All it took was a remote control to choose how the story would continue. Depending on the choices, the episode would last from 40 minutes to two hours . The special “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” was a kind of ending for the series, premiering sometime after the end of its fourth season. There were two other interactive offerings on Netflix, but they were removed earlier.

Netflix has not commented on its decision. The reason is said to be technical issues and the planned introduction of a new interface for the streaming platform, which now intends to focus even more on games . The new look is still in the testing phase, and the first opinions about it after test screenings were not positive. Now, the list of accusations can be extended to include the final nail in the coffin of interactive special episodes.

Fans commenting on Netflix's decision are not happy. This is another example of corporations dominating users, who decide what and when to watch. The development of streaming has hindered the market for physical media such as DVDs or Blu-rays. Until now, you could put your favorite productions on a shelf and return to them at any time. Now, without warning, they can disappear forever from streamers' libraries, becoming impossible to watch.