HBO Max is back baby! Warner Bros. Discovery has completed the transition from the streaming services being named simply “Max,” as it has for the last two years.
The streaming service’s apps and website now carry the HBO Mac moniker once again. Users won’t need to download a new app, as existing installations will automatically update to show the HBO Max name.
Or, as the App Store update note says: “Same app. New-ish name. The plot twist everyone has been waiting for: Max is now HBO Max.”
The move reverses a much-maligned 2023 rebrand, which dropped “HBO,” leaving only “Max” as the official name of the service. The move was criticized heavily by both critics and viewers.
WBD Streaming CEO JB Perrette said that going forward, HBO Max won’t provide “everything for everyone,” but “something distinct and great for adults and families.”
For those of you keeping score, the HBO streaming service has undergone several rebrandings over the years. The service was first known as HBO Go, then later became known as HBO Now. (I guess WBD executives realized people could watch the service at home also?) Then, HBO Now was renamed just HBO, then HBO Max. The service’s moniker was then changed to just Max, and now it is returning to HBO Max. WHEW! Got all that? You can’t keep track of the players without a lineup card folks!
The latest renaming is just the latest in several rebranding efforts over the last few years for the HBO streaming service. The HBO GO and HBO Now streaming services were merged into a single entity, “HBO Max” in 2020. Following a 2022 merger between Discovery and HBO parent firm WarnerMedia, the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery company announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ would merge, and would use the “Max” name.
