Netflix Is Serious About Cloud Gaming And May Succeed

Netflix has made no secret of its gaming ambitions, and has spent years trying to integrate gaming into its portfolio of content.

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Netflix has spent years trying to incorporate into its programming portfolio, and the company has made no secret of its gaming goals. It’s debatable how effective that strategy has been, but apparently, it hasn’t discouraged the corporation. According to one official, the company is “seriously considering” the possibility of developing its own cloud gaming service.

At the TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Netflix’s vice president of gaming, Mike Verdu, broke the news. Last year, the firm entered the mobile gaming market by releasing a slew of titles on Android and iOS that were available only to paying subscribers.

Netflix Gaming app

You had to download each game separately and then sign in to the Netflix app before you could play them. Cloud gaming promises to streamline the fun for players in a new era in the company’s gaming strategy. And more accessible generally; Netflix hasn’t done a great job of getting the word out about its mobile options.

“We’re going to take the same strategy here that we took with mobile: to move slowly, to be modest, to be careful, and to expand up.” “But it is a move we think we should take to meet members where they are on the devices where they use Netflix,” Verdu said.

Netflix may be able to expand its selection of mobile games by adopting the cloud gaming model. For the most part, the strength of the user’s hardware is irrelevant so long as they have access to the internet. Verdu also pointed out that this liberates players from relying solely on mobile devices to enjoy their favorite games.

Because that will be a major hurdle for customers, especially in terms of discoverability, and it may account for why so few Netflix subscribers use the service to play the company’s games.

Statistics on how people use Netflix are hard to come by, but in 2018, 70% of its programming was viewed on television. Over the course of four years, a lot may change in terms of what people watch on television. But at the very least, if the game is good, having it accessible on all Netflix-enabled devices will increase the number of potential players.

It would also be convenient if such games could be accessed from a central location, either the Netflix app itself or a separate gaming app. This is how most competing cloud streaming platforms function, and it was a source of friction between Apple and Microsoft.

Xbox Game Pass titles reportedly needed their dedicated app to be reviewed and authorized by Apple before being distributed through the service’s official channel. Microsoft did not agree since it would have added unnecessary complexity by requiring customers to install multiple programs. It’s easy to see how Netflix would gain from this method, especially if it eliminates the need to send users to the app store.

Google canceled Stadia

There have been challenges with cloud gaming, especially after Google canceled Stadia. Verdu argues that a cloud gaming platform would be a “value add” to Netflix’s business model and that Netflix shouldn’t have to deal with the same issues that plagued Stadia.

The economic approach is different because Verdu said, “we’re not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement.” The long-term goal is to make this gaming style as commonplace as possible.

If we understand this correctly, the comment implies that Netflix is considering adding cloud gaming to its existing subscription tiers like it added mobile titles. The plan is to play a game instead of logging into Netflix to view an episode or movie.

Though we shouldn’t hold our breath for Netflix to launch a cloud gaming service any time soon, the corporation has made clear more than once that it values as an industry. A day after Verdu’s statement, Netflix said it is working on 55 video games. Marko Lastikka, a former EA executive and the founder of Zynga, will reportedly be in charge of Netflix’s new game studio in Finland. Furthermore, Verdu stated that Chacko Sonny, formerly of Activision Blizzard, would be heading up the company’s second studio in California.