Netflix's instant streaming service has proved to be incredibly popular - probably more popular than Netflix had anticipated, and it's worked out great for Xbox Live users. Although Netflix streaming has been exclusive to the Xbox 360, the company would appear to want to broaden its base among gamers.
Speaking to Reuters, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings commented, "Eventually we want to be on all the game consoles, all the Blu-ray players, all the Internet TVs. So we are working in parallel with all of those efforts. Currently our Xbox deal is exclusive and we haven’t characterized it more than that."
We sort of get the feeling that as soon as Netflix's agreed exclusivity with Microsoft expires that they will jump to other platforms, that is of course if Microsoft doesn't throw huge money bags their way to extend the exclusive deal.
Netflix also talked about possibly bringing its service to the iPhone. "It’s something that’s likely to come over time. But nothing in the short term. (With) movie watching, we are not focused on mobile yet, but (instead) on the TV, on Blu-ray and on the video game consoles. We will get to mobile eventually, including the iPhone," Hastings said. Of course, mobile streaming presents its own challenges, but it would be cool nonetheless.
Hastings also shared his thoughts on digital distribution. It may not play out this way in the games space, but he believes disc-based media will be around a long time, despite massive digital growth. "There will be people doing DVD-by-mail in 15 or 20 years, so I think DVD will last a long time. Our best guess is that DVD will peak for us in 5 or so years. But it is continuing to grow. And the streaming is exploding. So we are getting nice growth in the DVD side and huge growth on the streaming side," he said.
