While at Comic-Con this year we had an opportunity to sit down with Rob Kamphausen, Vice President, Product, Warner Bros. Digital Labs (WBDL), who walked us through a live demo of the forthcoming DC Universe app. Kamphausen, a fanboy in his own right, showed off how the app is presented and used on an iPad as well as on a Roku, while revealing a ton of information about what you can do in this app and the many, many ways it sets itself apart from other streaming VOD type apps, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu. You can watch the demo in its entirety in the video above to glean all the details we could muster, but here's a few takeaways for those in a rush:
– The app will debut on Web, iOS (iPad/iPhone), Android (tablet/phones), Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV and Roku TV at launch, with expansion to more platforms later, most likely starting with gaming consoles.
– The app will debut this fall in the U.S. (as well as U.S. Territories, including Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands and United States Minor Outlying Islands) only where they will make sure everything is right before expanding to more markets.
– Monthly (7.99) and Annual (74.99) plans are available. You can preorder now for the Annual Plan and in doing so will receive 3 additonal months free.
– The app will have a full library of DC live-action and animated films, TV series, Animated series, a full library of comics with a native comics viewer (much like comixology), the ability to interact via message boards, customize your profile, order exclusive merchandise and much, much more.
My takeaway from the app was that it was much more than just an app for the sake of having an app. DC has an immersive library and there are a number of movies and shows that will keep you occupied, but one of the big sells for me, as a comic fan, was the ability to read comics on the app and have the ability to read them on my Apple TV. Seeing comics on a big-screen TV is really something special and opens up the art and presentation in ways I didn't expect. To be able to read comics with your friends on a TV is actually really cool and I'm looking forward to "binging" some story arcs when it drops. In addition, having the new shows, including Titans, Young Justice, Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn, Swamp Thing and Stargirl in the first wave is another enticing perk to the app. The ability to customize and treat it as social platform as well is another interesting aspect that isn't seen on any other service like this (that I'm aware of, anyway) and having it hyper-focused on DC and making it fancentric shows promise for a place to nurture that fandom (which will also be moderated to keep out those that always seem to try and poison the well).
Being able to purchase new comics or merchandise through the app is pretty cool as well, although the usefulness of that will come down to cost and exclusivity (as well as quality of product, of course). Ultimately, for 7.99 a month I feel like there's more than enough to justify the cost. Even though I already own a bunch of the movies in other formats already, I most certainly don't own them all (that goes double for the shows) and it'll be nice to have them all in one place with a library to explore more when the mood strikes. For DC fans, this feels like a no-brainer. The only drawback I can see is that, well, it's just DC content. But, then again, why would you sign up for an app called DC Universe if you were expecting more than that? It's an immersive DC experience, be it with films, TV, comics or even just a place to kick up your feet and stay awhile as a fan, so if that sounds like you then this is for you.
You can preorder (annual only) now at the DC Universe site. App will release sometime this fall (with Beta mode starting this month).