The “Game of Thrones” season four premiere is now being used as a tool to promote HBO to non-subscribers on the Xbox.
HBO is offering free access to the “Game of Thrones” Season 4 premiere starting today on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, the company announced on Tuesday. The deal will be available through April 14, and be available to both HBO subscribers and those who haven’t yet signed up for the network’s service.
“Game of Thrones” has become one of the more popular series on HBO. Based on the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin, the fantasy show has hit its fourth season and is achieving massive viewership numbers for HBO.
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That success has also caused some trouble for HBO. On Sunday, when season four premiered, HBO Go went down for hours as the sheer demand for the episode brought down the streaming service. HBO Go was eventually restored, but not before angry users complained that they had missed the first episode. The premiere is, however, available to stream on HBO Go right now, so the unrest died down relatively quickly.
Xbox owners don’t need to be subscribed to Microsoft’s subscription-based gaming and entertainment service Xbox Live Gold to access the free premiere.
CNET has contacted HBO for comment on the free offer. We will update this story when we have more information.