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Earlier this month, we reported that Netflix has begun its ventures into gaming beyond adaptations by naming former EA Mobile exec Greg Peters its new Chief Operating Officer for the company’s game goals. Now, Netflix has confirmed said reports, stating the goal behind the games as well as confirming that they will be available at no additional cost.
Netflix confirmed the news in a new letter to investors. In the letter, the streaming services mentioned interactive experiences like Black Mirror Bandersnatch when talking about new goals. Seeing gaming as a category that already fits inline with Netflix’s goals for expansion, Netflix has begun the process of integrating games into its service with a mobile focus in mind to start out.
You can read the full gaming portion of the notice to investors below:
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.
If interested in the other plans Netflix has, including more non-fiction options to go along with its new reality TV series initiative, you can read the full financials document here.
The company did not state specifically which types of games will be the focus, both in terms of other platforms and genre of choice, nor did it detail exactly how this will work through the service’s UI, but for now we at least have a confirmation about immediate goals.
I’m interested to see what this recent pivot means for the Netflix name and for a larger relation to other industries outside of the scope of movies and TV. The video games industry has surpassed the value of the film and TV market, which has led to a more creatively open mind towards the narrative tales gaming has to offer. As the games industry continues to stay in a hyper-focused spotlight within mainstream media, the next few years will be vital when looking at how the next step of entertainment evolution will progress.
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