The shift in preference also had a clear impact on Popcorn Time usage numbers. Pirate streaming sites and dedicated streaming boxes have surged in popularity over the years, effectively taking over the “Netflix for Pirates” role. This decreased popularity is in large part the result of competition from other pirate tools that rendered the software pretty much obsolete. “The world doesn’t need Popcorn Time anymore.” “It’s time to say goodbye,” the Popcorn Time team notes. Speaking with TorrentFreak, the Popcorn Time team says that decreased interest from the pirating public drove it to take this drastic decision. Popcorn-Time.tw Shuts Downĭespite weathering several storms, the curtain finally fell for Popcorn-Time.tw this week but legal issues didn’t play a role. That case was eventually dismissed after the movie companies realized that they had identified the wrong person. This triggered a wave of enforcement actions including a lawsuit in the US, targeting the alleged operator of Popcorn-Time.to (later. “Piracy continues to be one of our biggest competitors,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings commented in 2015, specifically mentioning Popcorn Time’s growing popularity. This was a major concern for Hollywood and Netflix began worrying too when Google searches for Popcorn Time began rivaling those for Netflix in some regions.

The original developers were quick to throw in the towel but the open source code was widely copied with Popcorn-Time.to emerging as one of the leading forks.ĭuring those early years, millions of people used the software. In the years that followed Popcorn Time had to endure plenty of legal threats, mostly from Hollywood.

The software offered a clean and easy-to-use interface to stream pirated movies and TV shows, all powered by BitTorrent. When the original Popcorn Time application launched eight years ago, we billed it as the “ Netflix for Pirates.”

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