Netflix is removing almost all of its Interactive Specials this month

by Pelican Press
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Netflix is removing almost all of its Interactive Specials this month

Netflix is planning to remove almost all of its Interactive Specials.

The streaming company confirmed to Engadget that it will have removed 20 of its 24 existing Interactive Specials by December 1.

The only four that will remain are Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend, You vs Wild and Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls.

Most of the Interactive Specials played out like branching stories, with viewers watching a show that would occasionally ask them to make decisions that would affect the storyline.

Most contained multiple endings, encouraging players to re-watch the Interactive Specials to see what the other outcomes would have been.

When they were first introduced, Interactive Specials were seen by some as one of Netflix’s first attempts to add game-like content to its service.

Indeed, Bandersnatch is about a British game developer in the ’80s, and was named after a cancelled computer game.

Netflix is removing almost all of its Interactive Specials this month
Bandersnatch is one of just four Interactive Specials set to remain.

Netflix spokesperson Chrissy Kelleher told The Verge that the Interactive Special idea had “served its purpose, but is now limiting as we focus on technological efforts in other areas”.

The full list of Interactive Specials set to be removed is:

  • Animals on the Loose: A You vs Wild Movie
  • Barbie: Epic Road Trip
  • Battle Kitty
  • Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile
  • Captain Underpands: Epic Choice-o-Rama
  • Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal
  • Cat Burglar
  • Choose Love
  • Headspace: Unwind Your Mind
  • Johnny Test’s Ultimate Meatloaf Quest
  • Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Hidden Adventure
  • Spirit: Riding Free: Ride-Along Adventure
  • Stretch Armstrong: Breakout
  • Boss Baby: Get That Baby!
  • The Last Kids on Earth: Happy Apocalypse to You
  • Trivia Quest
  • Triviaverse
  • We Lost Our Human
  • WWE: Escape the Undertaker
  • You vs Wild: Out Cold