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Following the announcement of Netflix moving into the gaming space, we now have confirmation which one. Mobile. Announced alongside their second-quarter earnings report, this may come as a bit of a disappointment for some, but don’t go assuming the worst just yet. It’s actually a pretty sound idea, and here’s why:
Firstly, mobile gaming will be included in all Netflix subscriptions. It’s a no-brainer proposition for consumers, try a free game whilst going about your day-to-day. Gamesindustry.biz reports that mobile gaming made up 57% of global games revenue in 2020, with a projected worth of $272 billion by 2030. Just to be clear, that’s more than all console and PC gaming combined.
Secondly, it’s a smaller risk to take. Netflix would need to part with anything between $1000 and $1,000,000 per title according to Huspi, which is much cheaper when compared to the millions of dollars spent on AAA budgets for console titles. Of course, we have no idea what Netflix has planned when talking about mobile gaming. They may opt to license third-party titles alongside creating their own IP.
Finally, they’re learning from their competitors’ mistakes. Previous cloud gaming platforms, such as Google Stadia and Ouya. Previous cloud gaming services failed for a number of reasons, but arguably the two biggest issues were buying hardware alongside extortionate subscriptions. Even PlayStation Now suffers from this issue, but maybe Netflix adding games for existing subscribers might set a new trend moving forward.
Microsoft is seeing amazing success with their Game Pass offering, providing a strong and packed game library for a reasonable subscription of £7.99 for console or PC or £10.99 for both alongside cloud gaming on any smart device. If Netflix can provide this level of an offering alongside their streaming service at a competitive price, they may end up being the biggest player in the games industry altogether.
