Netflix is for movies and TV, and Game Pass is for video games, right? It’s easy. I don’t expect to read e-books through my Spotify subscription any more than I would expect Hello Fresh to deliver movies. This is why I keep forgetting that Netflix already has a ton of games available – 96 of them! – and the broadcaster has just announced that it has 80 more in development.
As noted by Eurogamer, Netflix recently announced in an earnings call (pdf) that the company is working on over 80 new games, with plans to release one a month for… well, apparently for the next six and a half years . The question is, are they games we’ll want to play?
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While the current Netflix collection undoubtedly contains a complete mess, it also has …some of the best games ever? No really. GTA Vice City and San Andreas are there! Hades! Dead cells! Kentucky Route Zero, World of Goo, Case of the Golden Idol! And one of my top five games of all time, Oxenfree. OK, the GTA games aren’t the best versions, but at least they don’t cost anything if you have one under Netflix.
I think the main confusion is how you actually play these games. My assumption was always that they would be uploaded via Netflix, and I’d play it on a delayed stream in an app on my TV that wasn’t designed for the task, so I’ve never bothered. But it is not like that. These are all mobile games, so while you’ll find them in the Netflix app on your device, they install directly from the Google Play store or iOS store and work like any other mobile game. Which means, just realized, I have Oxenfree II, Into the Breach, and Moonlighter to play on my tablet now! Wasn’t I stupid?
Clearly I’m not the only one, as Netflix co-CEO Gregory K. Peters explained on the earnings call that while Netflix has exceeded some internal goals with their games, it’s still very small. He said it’s worth noting that “the commitment and that impact on our overall business at the current scale is still quite small.” As is “the level of investment in games relative to our overall content spend,” adding that, “the job is to continue to grow that engagement to where it has a material impact on the business.”
Which means, the games aren’t moving the needle, but he wants them to. Many of the 80 games he mentions appear to be, therefore, tie-in projects designed to accompany a future series. Or in the corporation speak:
We’re refining our software to do more of what’s working with the 80-plus games we currently have in development. And one of those things that really works is connecting our members to games based on specific Netflix IPs that they love.
The focus here will be “interactive narrative games”, which he describes as – apparently to the chagrin of many developers – “easier to build”. Those projects will go into something called Netflix Stories, which sounds like there will be a bigger push within the app, presumably directing people who’ve watched the show to the corresponding game.
So yeah, while Netflix has certainly funded some great indie games in the last couple of years, it seems like it’s changing direction somewhat. These one month games will be similar to Emily in Paris and Selling Sunset, so much. Well, let’s not judge – they can be great?
Netflix is basing all of this on “taking the lead” from users, which given the terrible job the company has done of clearly communicating that they’re delivering tons of great games with no ads and no extra cost, makes me I think it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s much more likely to have caught on with casual viewers looking for casual games, and all credit to that and them. Playing a Stranger Things-3 match is much more likely for a non-gaming audience than realizing they can play Dead Cells on their mobile.
It’s still a great opportunity for indie developers, who can land gigs making Wednesday’s Dance Game, or Bridgerton Cut The Rope, and then use the proceeds to pursue passion projects. It’s probably not a continuation of the experiment in financing great projects that was a highlight of the last three years.
However, if nothing else, you’ve just been reminded that you don’t need to pay $25 for GTA San Andreas Definitive Edition on your tablet if you use the link within your Netflix app. (Though it’s worth noting that not all games are on Android—yikes.)
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