Netflix Reportedly Expanding Into Videogames, And Why That’s A Terrible Idea

Netflix has told Ars Technica that the streaming platform plans to expand from streaming shows into videogames.

While they haven’t made a formal announcement, they have confirmed that they will be bringing Former EA and current Oculus executive Mike Verdu to head a “Netflix game-publishing team” (Quote from the Ars Technica report).

Based on our understanding the expansion is looking into more traditionally accepted videogames, not counting choose-your-own-adventures like the Bandersnatch special for Black Mirror, or Minecraft Story Mode, both of which are playable on the streaming service using a tv remote.

From what we currently know, this is a little different from how megacorporation Amazon had previously tried to do its own video game division- based on the phrasing used by Ars Technica its safe to assume their only interest is in publishing games to their platform, meaning they won’t fall into the money pitfalls that Amazon did with its string of cancelled games by its first-party studios.

The Video Game Gold Rush (Editorial)

It’s no secret that videogames are profitable- games like Fortnite make their parent companies so rich that they can afford to open shopping cart-less digital storefronts, then spend all their extra cash enticing developers on to said platform. They’re not just profitable, they’re profitable in a way that 30 years ago wouldn’t have made sense, considering how many profitable games are free-to-play.

Still, the other thing we’ve learned in recent years is that getting into videogames just for the money almost never works out. Unless Netflix plans to make this announcement with a plan already laid out for how it will work, the idea of “we’re going to expand into videogames because that makes the content number go up”

Google, one of the largest corporations in the world, tried this with the Stadia, and while the games-as-streaming has lived much longer than anyone thought it would it’s not exactly lived up to any of its promises either, especially the ones about the world improving its internet infrastructure for Stadia. There’s also the issue of its first-party studios shuttering.

Part of the pessimism is also that Netflix’s target demographic isn’t exactly one you’d line up with videogames- The phrase Netflix and chill exists explicitly because the stereotype goes that you’re not exactly actively participating in watching something on the platform, which is at the very core of what sets videogames apart from film and TV.

Of course, this is is all speculation, and I’d be happy to be proven wrong if Netflix can actually change the way we consume videogames without even having its own proprietary hardware.