You may have heard the news that Netflix plans on dipping its toes in gaming.
After the rumor came out back in May, the popular video-on-demand service provider announced recently that it will launch its video game service in 2022.
Not a lot of information has been revealed for the service just yet. However, in its latest letter to investors, we get a peek at Netflix’s plans for gaming. One of which is that the service will be free for existing subscribers of its VOD product and they will focus on mobile games first.
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. Games will be included in members’ Netflix subscription at no additional cost similar to films and series. Initially, we’ll be primarily focused on games for mobile devices. 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.
Netflix letter to investors
Still, no word yet what games will Netflix bring to its users and how it will work from a technological standpoint. But obviously, this could help the company stay competitive now that big players like Disney and Apple have entered the VOD streaming service market.