Netflix sets its eyes on Video Game Streaming
Can Netflix thrive where countless have failed? It wouldn’t be the first time.
Google announced publicly that they plan on shutting down their project, Google Stadia and are going to abandon it soon. The service will still be up for players until January 18th 2023 but then afterwards Google will focus on giving refunds for Stadia hardware and games bought on the Stadia Store. As much as this was an expected outcome, people still didn’t expect the project to be abandoned this soon, posing the question whether game streaming is ever going to be fully embraced.
Netflix dips its hand into the pot a bit late with a number of game streaming platforms already dominating the platform, with the biggest success being Microsoft with Xbox Cloud Gaming. Other competitors include Amazon’s Luna and NVidia’s GeForce Now just to name a few. Netflix proved that movie streaming was the future and revolutionized the way we watch movies nowadays, but can they strike gold twice, that is yet to be seen.
Netflix currently offers games already, with Netflix Gaming being a thing for quite a while now. Netflix games work on Android phones, tablets, iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices. The model works by allowing you to download and install a list of games on your device, some exclusively made for Netflix with others being licensed out to the platform for free use.
The current model though working and functional will not take Netflix to the heights it seeks to attain, as it doesn’t offer anything other than a subscription-based app store. The real goal is to create a full-on cloud gaming service that can be accessed on multiple screens with one subscription. Though a risky venture and will require much of Netflix’s resources, it could just be the company’s saving grace.
Netflix is seriously considering its own cloud gaming platform, the company’s VP of games Mike Verdu said at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference on Tuesday (via Protocol)
“We’re very seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering so that we can reach members on TVs and on PCs,” Verdu said. “We’re going to approach this the same way we did with mobile, which is start small, be humble, be thoughtful, and then build out. But it is a step we think we should take to meet members where they are on the devices where they consume Netflix.”
Netflix looks to be taking gaming very seriously as a whole announcing that they would add to their already 35 games with an additional 55 games in the works. This strategy is aimed at improving audience retention, the games on the platform are meant to keep people engaged on the platform for as long as possible. Netflix even came out to state that they have seen some encouraging results with people sticking around longer. They also didn’t hide the fact that it would be a long tiresome process for results to be fully realised understanding that it is a “multi-year Journey”. Nonetheless recent reports have shown that they have managed to retain 1% of subscribers which though not a lot, is a step in the right direction
Source: Protocol