Netflix Reboots Its Gaming Ambitions

Netflix is revamping its gaming plans to focus on titles that can be played on the TV and bring the whole family together.

The Big Picture: Netflix won the streaming wars for film and TV (a $100 billion market) but is looking to gaming (a $180 billion market) as its next growth engine. The company has already poured billions into gaming, acquiring several development studios and offering 140 titles. But a strategic shift could position its gaming division as the same kind of industry disruptor that Netflix itself became in Hollywood.

Between the Levels: “We’re not yet the Netflix of games… but that’s exactly where we’re headed,” said Netflix president of games Alain Tascan at the Game Developers Conference.

Here’s how the streamer is trying to make that happen:

• It will focus on making games that can be played on the Netflix TV app (where 70% of viewership is), using a player’s smartphone as the controller.
• It wants to make casual party games that can “replace family game night,” according to Forbes — so more titles similar to Mario Party or Among Us.
• It also wants to develop more titles geared toward younger kids and more interactive titles that leverage the studio’s IP (its Squid Game game is the division’s most successful so far).

Final Boss: Currently, Netflix games have a cumulative 192 million total downloads and 1.1 million daily active users… which shows there’s a lot of room for growth. Last summer, Netflix brought on Tascan — formerly an executive at Epic Games, where he worked on Fortnite — to steer the company away from developing mobile games and costly, time-intensive AAA titles like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. Instead, Netflix has started licensing those kinds of titles (a precursor for one day making those titles itself).

In the meantime, as long as the games lead subscribers to watch more films and shows on the service, Netflix may count them as a worthy investment.