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Netflix has confirmed that its initial foray into video games will focus on mobile experiences which will be free to existing subscribers.
In a letter to investors (via The Wrap (opens in new tab)), the streaming giant explained that it’s still in the early stages of expanding into games, but that it views the initiative similarly to its past moves into original films, animation, and unscripted TV.
“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,” the letter reads.
“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.”
Netflix has yet to confirm when we’ll see start seeing games being added to the streaming service, but a recent report from Bloomberg (opens in new tab) suggests it’ll happen as early as next year. Bloomberg also reported, with later confirmation from Netflix itself, that former Facebook, Oculus, and EA Mobile executive Mike Verdu will be heading up the effort.
With those precious few details nailed down, there’s still something slightly more speculative to note. While Netflix now says very clearly that the first games coming to Netflix will be mobile, a datamine from just last week suggests we’ll eventually see a broader range of games on Netflix, potentially including AAA games.
Dataminer Steve Moser (opens in new tab) shared several images of Netflix’s ‘N Game’ project which Moser says were hiding in the streaming service’s app data. Apparently, the working title is ‘Shark’, but that could easily change. Moser also revealed datamined images of PS5 controllers and Ghost of Tsushima, suggesting some sort of partnership between Netflix and Sony could be in the works.
Until we can play games on Netflix, check out our guide to the best games of 2021 (so far).
