What you need to know
- Netflix has confirmed plans of expanding into games.
- The company will initially focus only on games for mobile devices.
- Netflix subscribers will be able to access games at no additional cost.
Netflix has announced that it is in the early stages of further expanding into games, building on its previous efforts around interactivity with Black Mirror Bandersnatch and Stranger Things games. The confirmation comes less than a week after the company hired former Facebook and EA executive Mike Verdu to lead its gaming efforts. Netflix also extended its creative deal with Shonda Rhimes earlier this month to include feature films and gaming.
In a letter to investors, Netflix said that it views gaming as another new content category, similar to its expansion into original films and unscripted TV. Initially, Netflix will focus primarily on games for mobile devices. Just as expected, Netflix will be offering games to its subscribers at no additional cost.
Since we are nearly a decade into our push into original programming, we think the time is right to learn more about how our members value games.
As per a recent report, games on Netflix will appear alongside its current fare as a new programming genre. While there's no word on the kinds of games that will be offered, the first titles are expected to be released sometime early next year. Since the company plans to focus solely on mobile gaming initially, it is possible that the games will only be available via the Netflix mobile app on the best Android phones and compatible iOS devices.
Netflix' worldwide subscriber count increased by 8.4% YoY in the second quarter of 2021 to reach 209.18 million. The streaming giant expects paid memberships to increase by 9.0% in the third quarter. It has blamed the pandemic for the lumpiness in membership growth. Although the company has seen slow growth in the last two quarters, it is still comfortably ahead of rivals such as Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
