Game of Thrones hit by HBO digital issues

Game of Thrones season seven launched last night

Fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones (GoT) were left frustrated yesterday during its seventh season premiere after technical issues hit the cablenet’s digital operations.

The seventh season of GoT, which comprises seven episodes instead of the usual 10, debuted yesterday evening in the US and saw a surge in demand from viewers using digital services including HBO Now and HBO Go.

Some viewers were left unable to watch the show via HBO Now, the company’s standalone OTT service launched in 2015, while others using HBO Go also complained of loading problems.

The HBO.com website also reportedly crashed during the first half of the show, leading some viewers to take to Twitter to complain.

HBO said it was aware of some issues on HBO Go in Latin America but said US-based problems had not been widespread. The HBO website was working again before the end of the episode.

GoT is based on the books by George RR Martin and was created by David Benioff and DB Weiss.

A final eighth season is in the works and there are plans for a spin-off series, although it will not feature any characters from the original fantasy adventure drama and will come in the form of a prequel.

Martin has said that five pilot scripts are in the works but added that the show would not be “spinning off” from GoT “in the traditional sense.”