If on Monday it announced its first theme park, today Netflix takes another step in its strategy to become a global entertainment giant at all levels. The company wants to “reinvent what it is like to play together”, in the words of Alain Tascan, vice president of video games at Netflix, who explained in Helsinki the platform’s new strategy to succeed in interactive entertainment. The event served to present four new proprietary titles, detail how the company intends to integrate games into its platform and explain the philosophy of a business that, without seeking to compete with traditional consoles, also wants to put its flag in the world of video games.
Netflix began its foray into video games in November 2021. That month, the company officially launched its mobile gaming section within its app. The first titles were relatively modest, many developed by external studios or small acquisitions, and included games based on their own series, such as Stranger Things. The strategy was consolidated when the platform bought the Finnish studio Next Games in March 2022, along with others such as Night School Studio (creators of Oxenfree). Since then, the company has been expanding its catalog, offering the games at no additional cost or ads, as part of the general subscription to the platform. Now it is preparing to take the next evolutionary step: with more than 100 available, it is preparing dozens of new games, four of which arrive today on the platform direct from Helsinki.
“It is a happy moment for the studio,” summarized Saara Bergström, general director of Next Games, in the Finnish capital, which opened its doors to the press for the first time. Founded in 2014 and acquired by Netflix three years ago, the studio is responsible for titles such as The Walking Dead (before being acquired by Netflix) Stranger Thingsthe latter key in the rapprochement between both companies. “We started in a single room and today we are a multi-game studio. We remain true to our initial spirit, and Netflix lets us keep that Nordic flavor that I think our games have,” Bergström explained.
During the presentation in Helsinki, to which Netflix invited EL PAÍS, four new games were announced, available from today, which reflect the different lines of development that Netflix intends to cover: Party Crashersa holiday-style multiplayer title; Pictionary y Bogglefocused on social experience. These three games are designed to be played with several people, with a mobile phone and in front of a television screen. The fourth game is Puzzleda new line of puzzles, sudocus and daily puzzles, with integrations from popular franchises such as Stranger Things.
But the platform not only wants to have casual games: the offer will be expanded on December 2 with the western Red Dead Redemptionone of the best games of all time (it came out in 2010), which will appear with a version optimized for mobile devices. Also the WWE fighting game, of equal visual power, will be available on the platform, and the company is also preparing Dead’s Man Partya narrative title inspired by Daggers in the backin which the film’s own director, Rian Johnson, will participate. Also arriving today are other games based on franchises or educational themes such as LEGO Party, Tetris Time Warp o Barbie Color Creations.
“We want to push video games in new directions,” said Alain Tascan, the company’s vice president of games. “Entertainment is not just movies or series: 3 billion people in the world play games. Games tell stories, and we are one of the best at telling stories.” Tascan explained that Netflix’s goal is not to compete with traditional consoles and computers, but rather to “complement interactive entertainment,” creating accessible experiences “as easy to play as it is to watch a movie.” The platform indicates that the gaming strategy is a success, but as it does with the viewing figures (it only gives them on rare occasions) it does not reveal the number of games played. “I can’t say exactly. Millions!” exclaims Tascan.
Play on any screen
One of the pillars of this strategy is technical integration. Users will be able to play the games presented in Helsinki from the television using their mobile phone as a controller, scanning a QR code that will appear on the screen. “We want to eliminate any friction: play whenever and wherever you want, without the need to hardware additional,” Tascan stressed. This cross-platform approach poses a technical challenge. “We are pioneers,” Bergström admitted. “There is no instruction manual for this. We live in a disruptive era in the industry, and that makes it uncomfortably exciting. We have to create, experiment and fail in the process until we get something that makes sense on its own.” Not all televisions will offer the same performance. According to Bergström, there are minimum specifications and variations in resolution depending on the model, although the market trend is favorable: “Every year new TVs appear with better capabilities, and that opens up opportunities.”
Netflix intends to divide its video game strategy into four main areas: games for children, games mainstreammultiplayer party titles (those presented in Helsinki belong to this area) and narrative proposals. Unlike other models in the sector, Netflix does not plan to monetize games outside of its platform. “We want to bring all our content together,” Tascan noted. Netflix will also not offer internal microtransactions or paid content within games, at least at this stage. The focus is on reinforcing user loyalty and increasing usage time within the company’s ecosystem. “Imagine that you like a series and you can play its game within the same environment. We aspire for people to enter and stay in our universe,” explained Tascan. In that sense, the company is confident that the technical gap between consoles and mobile phones will continue to narrow. Netflix confirms that there will be localized versions for different markets, although the expansion will be gradual. This batch of games will appear first in English, and will be translated in the coming months.
The path to the total platform
The foray into video games is one more piece in the evolution of Netflix from its origins as a video store. Today, the company has more than 300 million subscribers worldwide and expects to earn more than $45 billion this year. In addition to producing and distributing its own audiovisual content, it offers live broadcasts – such as WWE fights or NFL games -, has acquired emblematic movie theaters in the United States and, recently, has opened its first theme park. In recent weeks, it has even submitted a bid to acquire Warner Bros.
Netflix reinforces its final message: the future of entertainment will be hybrid. “It’s scary, but it’s also exciting,” admits Bergström, who sums up: “We’re entering a new era of entertainment.” “We aspire to blur the border between linear and interactive content,” concludes Tascan. There it is nothing.