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Nintendo TVii Service Will Go Dark August 11th

Posted by timothy on from the will-also-stay-dark-for-the-days-to-follow dept.

Kotaku reports that Nintendo has announced it will shutter its Wii U TVii in just a few weeks; after August 11th, the service will be no more. The description that Kotaku offers gives some idea of why: Nintendo TVii promised to turn television watching into a robust social experience, tracking users' favorite shows, making suggestions based on familial preferences, integrating with all of the major streaming video services, programming DVR recordings and acting as a second screen experience on the Wii U game pad. It sounded pretty amazing. It wasn’t really. It was awkward and fumbling and a year later the Xbox One came along with its HDMI pass-through and voice-controlled TV watching and made Nintendo TVii look silly."

3 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Tracking users' favorite shows? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Do you want to lose users?

    Because that's how you lose users.

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    1. Re:Tracking users' favorite shows? by LMariachi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most people, even those with some inkling of concern with privacy, really don't give a shit if a company knows what shows they like. All it means is they might get ads that might interest them instead of ads that are totally irrelevant.

      TV preferences aren't medical records or bank statements or Ashley Madison accounts.

    2. Re:Tracking users' favorite shows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sadly, that's not how you lose users. At all. If anything it is how you gain them.

      Play Steam games? XBone? PS4? Every game you play, for how long, etc is tracked.

      Have a smart phone? Your travels are tracked. Your contacts are tracked.

      Use Facebook? Your friends network is tracked.

      Use gmail? What you say to your friends is tracked.

      People have demonstrated conclusively over years and years now that they do NOT care about being tracked. All the above things are wildly popular. If this thing failed, it wasn't because of that, it was because it didn't hold up in some other way that people wanted it to.