Streaming service giant Netflix is apparently betting big on video games as it prepares nearly 50 video games for its subscribers by the end of 2022. It had previously offered mobile games for some of its hit shows—like Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3: The Game—but now, more are slated to come after the company faced losses with its subscriber count.
Netflix is one of the most popular subscription video-streaming services around, but it still struggles to compete against rivals like Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, and Paramount+. With its recent earnings report, the company’s announcement of entering the video game space last July 2021 will heavily come into play.
So far, Netflix has released only a handful of mobile game apps that are mostly either tie-ins to or adaptations of their shows. The streaming service is also well-known for creating TV show adaptations of popular video games, like League of Legends, Castlevania, and The Witcher. This time, with their plans to produce both a TV show and a mobile game for the popular tabletop card game “Exploding Kittens,” it’s becoming clear that Netflix intends to dip more into the video game industry.
This comes at an opportune time as Netflix’s stock had reportedly lost 200,000 subscribers after the first quarter of 2022. Now, the streaming service is planning to get serious with video games to attract new subscribers. It has already acquired three game studios: Boss Fight Entertainment, Next Games, and Night School Studio, which had developed Oxenfree. Next Games itself had released Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales last year before its acquisition.
While churning out 50 video games by the end of the year sounds ambitious for a company previously focused on streaming shows, the idea of providing adaptations to both shows and games vice-versa presents a whole new avenue for entertainment that Netflix could potentially earn from. Netflix is planning to stick to Android and iOS games for now—with only its subscribers having full access to them.
Image credit: About Netflix | News
