Netflix has shared plans to continue its investment in video games, enthusing about the medium in a recent investor call. As first reported by GameSpot, when prompted about future developments within its gaming segment, Netflix co-CEO, president, and director Greg Peters confirmed the company is set to ‘ramp [its] investment in this area’ and that it remains excited about games on the platform.
As noted by Peters, the company’s investment in games remains ‘quite small’ compared to its overall content investment, and that is intentional. Currently, the company is looking to ‘remain disciplined’ as it continues to grow its games offering, with a focus on ‘not investing too far ahead of demonstrating that we know how to translate that investment into value for our members.’ In short, the company is looking to maximise its investment by offering well-scoped games that provide unique value for players.
The company reportedly remains ‘open’ to changing up the current monetisation model for these experiences as well, but it must ‘get to a lot more scale’ before that becomes a focus.
‘We’re going to do that work first,’ Peters said. ‘We remain convicted about our strategic opportunity and excited to make more progress.’
Notably, Netflix recently announced an overhauled strategy for its games division, following years of seemingly directionless investment. In 2021, the company was fully invested in the world of video games, introducing an array of downloadable experiences for subscribers, and partnering with major companies like Devolver Digital to do so.
Netflix is changing its gaming strategy
In 2023, it was reported that less than 1% of subscribers were actually playing Netflix’s games, leading to questions about their inclusion on platform, and what growth Netflix was pursuing. Later, the company announced an array of studio acquisitions, and the founding of a major AAA studio featuring veteran talents of Overwatch, Halo and God of War.
Two years on, this AAA studio was shut down (reportedly due to a need for games to match the Netflix platform), and a restructure for Netflix games was announced. This involved the establishment of four key pillars: narrative games, multiplayer party games, games for kids, and ‘mainstream’ releases, aka licensed tie-in games and original titles with widespread appeal. As part of these changes, plans to publish several games (including Tales of the Shire) were cancelled.
Following this announcement, Netflix also confirmed the removal of several major games from its platform, including Hades, the Monument Valley series, the Golden Idol games, and several Devolver Digital titles.
Going forward, it appears Netflix is pursuing a more streamlined approach to game inclusions, with those four new pillars defining investments and developments in this segment. Despite an overhaul, it appears the company maintains faith in the games sector, with a more targeted approach designed to entice subscribers. Key examples of success in this sector, cited by Peters, were Squid Game: Unleashed and GTA‘s Netflix ports (both fitting under the licensed game category).
‘We’ve seen good progress, as you know, with licensed games like GTA,‘ Peters said. ‘We’ve seen good progress with the games we developed like Squid Game: Unleashed. So you’ll see more from us in both of those categories, as well as a whole new set of interactive experiences that we think that we’re either in a unique or differential position to deliver.’
Going forward, we can expect to see new and more ambitious games from Netflix, although as noted recently, any games developed under the company banner will need to fit the platform, and its new four-pillar strategy. We’ll have to wait to see what that looks like in future.
Also on ScreenHub: Netflix is dropping Hades, Golden Idol, Braid, and other major games
Netflix is set to drop more than 20 of its mobile games, including many platform exclusives, as it changes its overarching gaming strategy. In 2021, the company was fully invested in the world of video games, introducing an array of downloadable experiences for subscribers.
