- Netflix will be expanding its platform to include mobile video games
- This is a part of its efforts to add more interactive options to its services
- The games Netflix will be adding will be included in the usual subscription without an additional cost
Netflix is looking to add more variety to its services. To that ends, it announced its intentions to add a new video game category to its platform.
Venturing Into Gaming
Media streaming service Netflix will expand into new territory as it will be changing its platform to include video games as well. The company has laid down its plans to approach this major change.
Apparently, Netflix will first focus on video games and will target its customers that use the platform's services through their mobile devices like phones or tablets. Those games will be added to Netflix's catalog as a separate category, mirroring the streaming platform's previous expansions to other forms of visual media such as animation and original films. Most importantly, accessing the new video game category will require no additional cost and will be included in the usual Netflix base subscription.
The changes are expected to arrive in 2022. In order to ensure the best possible quality, Netflix secured the services of Mike Verdu – an executive with years of expertise in the social platform giant Facebook and the game developer Electronic Arts. Verdu will be leading Netflix's new endeavor.
How the Platform Will Approach the New Addition
Netflix explained that this expansion into video games would not be at the cost of movies and TV series. Instead, the platform will be looking to create a larger variety of options for its customers and increase viewership across all its categories. In light of this, including video games is a way to create a new, more interactive category that will increase interest in Netflix.
Netflix has already gotten to know interactivity with the game based on the critically-acclaimed series Stranger Things and an interactive sci-fi drama film called Black Mirror Bandersnatch. It will now pursue that sentiment further by including various mobile video game titles in its services.
The platform has previously implied the possibility of looking into video games as, in 2019, Netflix disclosed that it considers Fortnite to be its major rival. Despite the inherent differences between movies and gaming, both have one goal – to provide a quality pastime to the user. It would seem Netflix realized that by adding more options, it could cater to a larger demographic. Depending on how this addition is perceived by users, Netflix may choose to expand its new category even further.
In its Q2 shareholders' letter, Netflix concluded that it is confident that its efforts of improving the service can pay off and help the platform maintain a strong position on the market.
