Netflix: “Time Is Right” For Gaming As Streamer Plans Expansion; Video Games To Be Included In Monthly Subscription

Netflix has given its first real hints about its push into video games.

The streamer said Tuesday in its second-quarter shareholders’ letter that the “time is right to learn more about how our members value games” and added that original games would be included in the existing subscription cost, rather than as an add-on.

This comes after Netflix hired former Facebook and Electronic Arts exec Mike Verdu to bolster its move into gaming. He joins as VP Game Development.

“We’re also in the early stages of further expanding into games, building on our earlier efforts around interactivity,” Netflix noted in the letter, which accompanied the company’s mixed Q2 2021 earnings report.

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Netflix added that it wants to build on what it has done with projects such as Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and its Stranger Things games and that its initial push with be focused on games for mobile devices.

“We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV,” it wrote. “Games will be included in members’ Netflix subscription at no additional cost similar to films and series. Initially, we’ll be primarily focused on games for mobile devices.”

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