Netflix currently has over 80 games in development and plans to release one new game per month to its subscribers starting this month. In its latest earnings report, Netflix co-CEO Gregory K. Peters detailed the company’s gaming plans and how it will drive growth.
The company is making the fastest progress on interactive narrative games, which Peters describes as “easier to make.” These games will be positioned at the heart of Netflix Stories, where the company will release a new game each month inspired by popular series like Emily in Paris and Selling Sunset. Peters also promised
Netflix plans to launch many different types of games in the coming quarters and years.
According to Theodore A. Sarandos, another Netflix co-director, it’s fun and exciting for them to have the opportunity to make video games out of their own content, thus expanding their offering. “The goal is to be able to do a show in between seasons, and then, introduce new characters and stories or new developments on the gaming platform, and then that could appear in the next season or in a sequel to the movie.” – Quoted Sarandos is a Eurogamer.
According to them, Netflix now envisions many of its own movies or series as cross-platform franchises.
Netflix has released over a hundred games so far, though many of them have been small in size.
Netflix’s mobile app includes several third-party games as part of the subscription, such as Grand Theft Auto, Football Manager, and Sonic Mania, as well as original interactive stories based on Netflix shows like Love is Blind and Perfect Match. Peters noted that while Netflix has set fairly aggressive engagement growth goals, and has met them, its impact on the business is still very small.
Late last year, Netflix's head of gaming, Mike Verdue, revealed that
The company develops over 10 games in internal studios, and has outsourced the development of another 90 games to external studios.
It's unclear what the exact split between in-house and third-party games is for the 80 games currently in development.
