Game of Thrones spinoff launch crashes streaming devices

The premiere of the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon crashed HBO Max’s streaming app for numerous users on Sunday, The Verge reports.
Complaints by users on Twitter, Reddit, and other online channels said the app would abruptly exit after the pre-roll ad for the first episode and return to the streaming device’s home page.
Some reported that creating a new user profile on the HBO Max app would fix the problem, allowing them to watch the episode.
Most impacted users appeared to be those using Amazon’s Fire TVs and streaming sticks.
HBO’s senior vice president for communications Chris Willard told The Verge that a small portion of users was having issues and that the company was resolving them.
At the same time, Willard said “millions” of HBO Max subscribers were successfully viewing the series.
HBO hopes House of the Dragon will replicate some of the success it enjoyed with Game of Thrones, which raked in tens of millions of viewers over eight seasons between 2011 and 2019.
According to TorrentFreak, it was also the most pirated television series between 2012 and 2019.
The show was critically-acclaimed and widely adored for its visual effects, big battle scenes, and intriguing story.
However, years of enjoyment were blunted by a final season which failed to live up to fans’ expectations.
In attempts to see if they could fill the gap left by Game of Thrones, major streaming services have launched several high-budget fantasy shows with varying success in recent years.
House of the Dragon is also coming up against the eagerly-anticipated Lord of the Rings series — The Rings of Power — which will see its first season launching on Amazon Prime Video on 2 September.
HBO Max is not yet available in South Africa, but House of the Dragon made its debut on linear TV in the country at 03:00 AM on DStv’s M-Net channel.
MultiChoice has maintained a content licencing agreement with HBO for several years, allowing it to broadcast and stream hit titles including Game of Thrones, Westworld, Euphoria, Raised by Wolves, and The Sopranos.
These shows are also available on its streaming service — Showmax.
While the pay-TV operator has confirmed House of the Dragon will come to Showmax, it has yet to announce a launch date.