Max, formerly HBO Max, to become HBO Max again somehow

Companies that reach a certain critical mass really truly become incompetent. I don't mean just evil or profit first, I mean simply incompetent at the most basic aspects of running a business. There are marketing departments that behave as if the entire team is composed of interns frantically googling marketing slang.
Warner Bros, Hasbro, Apple, they're carried by the inertia of their gigantic size and the customers that were alive to have moulded their vision about the company during their good years.
- Companies that reach a certain critical mass really truly become incompetent
  It's by design.
  The guy who creates a game studio to make his own game understands everything about making it.
  The AAA studio that buys them out kinda understands games but care more about profit than any individual IP, so the game suffers.
  The giant corporation that buys the AAA studio doesn't give a fuck about games in general because it's a small slice of a giant pie. They use the CEO position there as a training spot for executives that don't understand anything about games.
  It applies to any industry, but no one can out bid the giant corporations and they have to keep buying stuff up to maintain profit increases.
  Eventually they'll cannabilze everything till there's 2-3 options then eventually just one.
- They don't even need to reach critical mass. The last place I was at was a shitshow held together by a handful of overachievers. At every level there were idiots making decisions and protecting friendly mouth-breathers. And when we would contact the Big Players in the industry, it was much the same on their end. It got to the point where I had to remind people that just because you're calling Big Name Brand, the person you're talking to is you. And they report to Dave (the know-nothing manager we all worked under). Nobody has a fucking clue. So cut the person on the other end of the line some slack.
- Number must go up. Forever and ever.
- Seems like at about 5000 employees is when HR becomes the thing that drives so many decisions that don’t matter. And from there it’s all downhill.
- Or they just want to pay their bills like everyone else

Can't wait for everyone to call it "HBO Max, formerly known as HBO Max".
- The channel formerly formerly known as HBO MAX.
  
  The channel currently and formerly known as HBO Max
- HBO Max formerly Max formerly HBO Max formerly HBO Now formerly HBO Go.
  Edit: I forgot one.

I had a survey from them where I answered that dropping HBO from their branding was the second stupidest fucking decision they've made since Zaslav became CEO. Second only to removing legacy content and canning complete movies for tax purposes. That was maybe a month and change ago.
- Nice. You did it!!!

The original change dropping HBO was one of the stupidest branding changes I've ever seen (and there's a lot of competition). To be honest, they'd be better off dropping the Max part instead.

- That last part has never been a part of the HBO business model.

Are they gonna bring back all the quality content they removed to replace it with reality TV?
Because that's what's dropping subscribers, no one cares about the name.
- They also removed 4k from the standard package while continuing to boost prices multiple times, and also filling it with sports I have no interest in. Combined with the fact the app continued to run awfully on Android TV, it made it a really easy decision to cancel
- I agree with this statement but have to add The Pitt has been some of the best television I have seen in a few years. So i have hope that is the case.
  
  I hate to say it, but I've been seeing those stupid banner ads while watching South Park and the premise at the very least seems interesting for The Pitt, I know absolutely nothing else though

Inb4 it turns just to HBO and then a nameless entity. It has no name. It just exists. Like death.
- The streaming service formerly known as...
- A streaming service has no name.
  
  smack
- That's the Disney Channel (death of a career)

It never stopped being HBO Max to me.
/it's OK to deadname non-human entities

Somehow, HBO Max returned.

- Logo designers without much talent not originality must make a living, too.

HBO Sometimes Max

They canceled all the good shows and replaced them with "reality" tv slop. No one gives a fuck what you call a trash fire, it is still a trash fire.
- Trash Fire MAX
- Common Side Effects is not slop
  
  Yes, the one show I would pay to have HBO Max to have but I don’t because I’m a dirty pirate and got tired of paying them $20 a month

Don't forget... people got paid huge amounts to make these decisions 🙄
- And paid huge amounts to pay for the marketing materials for the change. All when most people still called it HBO
  
  Yep!
- It's not about the destination, it's about all the managers who got bonuses along the way!

subscribed to Max
found zero Max Verstappen race wins
cancelled

Ah, I almost forgot it was officially called Max, they kept the brand 'HBO Max' here. During the rebrand they found out we already had a public broadcaster called 'Omroep MAX', which is often shortened to just MAX in the names of their programs. Trying to claim that name would probably have not gone well for HBO.

Everybody's been calling it HBO the entire god damned time!

If they really want customers back
Finish Westworld (they had one season left) and put it back on the service
Release the Batgirl movie
Release the Cyote movie (though I think they actually sold this one)
- Bring back all the adult swim/cartoon network content they axed
  
  Justice for infinity train. I want zaslavs head
  
  Can't be done, blame Mojo jojo
- More westworld yes please
- That would cost them money. Changing their name costs them almost nothing.

Your detransition is very valid nyah

HBO was the better name. And even Cinemax is a better name than Max.
I kept calling it HBO Max after the first change.
Most CEOs of entertainment companies are just people with business degrees who wish they were creative, but just aren't.
- HBO objected to HBO Max, so it was rebranded to Max. Now the top HBO execs have left so they’re changing it back.
  
  Ah. I see. Guess I assumed they were part of the same company. Thanks.
- The problem is they don't ever stop paying the marketing team. Eventually you don't need more marketing and yet. Gestures around. Just hire a PR team for fucks sake.
  
  Is it just a complicated form of embezzlement? You have some unqualified fucks put stock video clips and mindless musack together in windows movie maker so you have an excuse to pay them way too much? The marketting department sure as shit isn't helping the product's marketting.

I think I only call it Max instead of HBO or HBO Max less than 25% of the time. This rebrand was goofy. Still not as bad as Twitter's.
- I've just always defaulted to HBO, especially considering much of their older content still has HBO pop up as a credit.
  
  There was HBO Go and HBO Now before HBO Max. Also just HBO via television. Truly a hell scape.
- Twitter's was so bad people went from 'X (formerly Twitter)' to :what used to be called twitter' all the way back to just twitter without the company doing anything after the rebrand.

Probably because "Max" sounds more like streaming service for cinemax than HBO. Just bad branding and arguably opens them up to copyright suit.

Please use a cw. I almost died laughing.
Damn, these companies are running around like headless chickens.
- We should laugh at David Zaslav every chance we can

somehow
I mean, it's pretty straightforward...

Are they also renaming their plans? Can't wait to sign up to HBO Max Max

polygon about to be slop too https//arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/05/gaming-news-site-polygon-gutted-by-massive-layoffs-amid-sale-to-valnet/
- Yes it's awful

2055: Coca Cola Nestle Max Monsanto HBO
- Monstanto has already been eaten by Bayer, and HBO isn't that big a fish so I wouldn't bet on that name to be honest
- Philip-Morris-Disney-Fox-AT&T-AOL-Time-Warner-PepsiCo-Viacom-Halliburton-Skynet-Toyota-Trader-Joe's
- One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.

subbed a long time ago on a cable deal. play a few movies to death on rotation. no thanks. i could rent what i wanted to see for less

idiots

I was wondering why the HBO Dwight Schrute meme was making the rounds again. I swear this is the corporate equivalent of changing your pronouns every month.

Why the fuck do they keep changing the name? What happened to HBO Go?
- HBO max go.
  
  No, HBO go go.

Somehow HBO Max returned.

This might be the funniest shit I've read.

Your move Peacock.
- Cockpee!

That's like apple putting out a new same sized phone with no new options, but a different model number.

How long until it goes back to just being HBO?
- I'd say 7,5 Mooches
- it will be HBO MAX +, or hbo max pro+ next.
  
  “HBO Go Max Now +” as it’s final shriek into the void before finally just returning to “HBO” 🤣

I don’t think anybody referred to it as Max anyway. Such a generic lame name.
Example of products that could be named Max:
power tools
protein supplements
engine oil
gas chambers
- People
  
  Last time I checked people weren't products but ok

I didn't know they renamed it

I'm all for letting people self-identify, but cmon and make up your mind already

I'll never remember this new one

What bad PR did they do to cause a need for another stupid name change? Lol Max didn't have that HBO in it so people stopped thinking it was premium? I coulda fucking told you that.
- I hate that their SEOs are good enough to get away with plain old max as a search term. It makes me irrationally angry when big corpos make these stupid decisions and get away with it, but only regret it when it immediately hurts their bottom line.
  
  No way it's good SEO, it's 100% the search engines hard coding responses into their systems or something like that
  The instantaneous speed and level of raw aggression some search terms have scream of meddling

What a ride

I wonder if they looked at the data for how people find the website, I'd find it by googling "hbo login"
- I suspect the competent people knew all along. I wonder if the name was changed because of internal politics in the company against HBO. They changed the name when they were gutting a lot of HBO's leadership