Netflix's streaming service experienced a significant outage moments after the highly anticipated fifth and final season of Stranger Things became available to viewers.
The platform failure occurred within minutes of the first four episodes launching at 1am UK time on Wednesday, preventing fans from accessing the new content after a three-year wait since the previous season.
Viewers attempting to stream the episodes encountered error messages stating "Something went wrong" along with an apology for the technical difficulties.
The disruption affected users attempting to watch on television devices, with the platform becoming unresponsive as unprecedented numbers of fans simultaneously tried to access the new episodes of the popular science fiction series.
Stranger Things fans faced technical issues when they tried to watch the new episodes
|NETFLIX
The technical difficulties impacted viewers across multiple continents, with outage tracking service Downdetector registering more than 14,000 reports from the United States within moments of the release. India experienced similar widespread disruptions, with hundreds of users reporting frozen screens and connection errors preventing them from accessing the new episodes.
Netflix acknowledged the technical problems in an official statement, confirming that certain users had encountered streaming difficulties on their television devices.
The company assured customers that the issues were resolved swiftly, with full service restoration achieved for all affected accounts within a five-minute window.
The brief but significant disruption highlighted the immense global demand for the concluding season of the supernatural drama, which has captivated audiences since its debut in 2016.
The streaming platform's preparation efforts proved insufficient despite preventative measures.
Ross Duffer, who co-created the series with his brother Matt, had previously announced on social media that Netflix had boosted its bandwidth capacity by 30 per cent specifically to prevent such technical failures.
This marks a recurring issue for the streaming giant when releasing highly anticipated Stranger Things content.
The platform experienced comparable disruptions in July 2022 when the second part of season four became available, with viewers encountering similar access problems within minutes of release.
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Netflix has released the first episodes of the final series of Stranger Things
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The first part of that season also triggered outages, with more than 13,000 users reporting technical difficulties at the time.
The pattern of crashes during major Stranger Things releases demonstrates the extraordinary viewer demand that continues to overwhelm Netflix's infrastructure despite advance preparations.
Frustrated viewers flooded social media platform X to express their disappointment, with one user posting "NETFLIX CRASHED HAHAHAHAHAHAHA #StrangerThings5" whilst another questioned how the billion-dollar company failed to maintain functioning servers.
One penned: "Did Netflix servers just crash? Stranger Things is going to break the whole internet tonight."
Stranger Things fans took to social media to complain about the issues
|NETFLIX
"OH MY GOD NETFLIX PLS FIX YOURSELF I WANNA WATCH," another pleaded.Someone else complained: "We've been waiting for 3 years for the moment. How could you not realise how big this was going to be and not prepare for it? We broke #netflix."Another desperate fan added: "NETFLIX HAS CRASHED IM CRYINGGGG OMG LET ME IN IN WANNA WATCH IT."The remaining episodes of the supernatural drama's final season will arrive in two instalments, with three episodes scheduled for release on Christmas Day and the series finale set to premiere on New Year's Eve.A different fan wrote: "Episode 1 isn't working. Tried downloading it too and nothing." (sic)
The concluding season features the returning ensemble cast including Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard and other series regulars who have portrayed the beloved characters since the show's 2016 debut.