Netflix, a streaming service known for its TV and movie releases, wants in on that gaming slice with confirmation that it will offer video games as part of its subscription service.
Netflix revealed the news of its video game expansion plans in a shareholder letter released yesterday. The streaming giant confirms that games will come at no extra cost and will be included in its subscription service. Netflix also stated that it will be starting with mobile devices, suggesting they might go beyond mobile gaming.
“We’re also in the early stages of further expanding into games, building on our earlier efforts around interactivity (eg, Black Mirror Bandersnatch) and our Stranger Things games. We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV,” Netflix said in its July 20th shareholder letter.
“We’re excited as ever about our movies and TV series offering, and we expect a long runway of increasing investment and growth across all of our existing content categories, but 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.”
Before the confirmation, Bloomberg initially reported that Netflix would be bringing video games to the platform within the next year. Bloomberg also reported that Netflix hired former Electronic Arts and Oculus veteran, Mike Verdu, as its vice president of game development, who helped developers bring games to the Oculus platform.
That’s not all though, as a potential partnership with Sony was discovered within Netflix’s iOS app. This isn’t outside the realm of possibility as both Netflix and Sony Pictures are currently in a partnership.
What was discovered was an ‘N Game’ logo, a shark fin, an image of the PS5’s Dualsense controller and finally last year’s released Ghost of Tsushima. This at least suggests that PlayStation Studios games could be heading to Netflix which could be in line with PlayStation’s mobile and cloud strategy.
It also seems like pretty backwards thinking as PlayStation already has its own streaming service to worry about but looks like Jim Ryan wants to have his cake and eat it too. Although the Xbox Game Pass cake looks more appetizing.
