Netflix made its case for creating and publishing games on its massive streaming platform for all the world to engage with.
Speaking at a side event at the Game Developers Conference, Alain Tascan, president of games at Netflix, “At Netlix we want to entertain the world.”
Games are a way of entertaining Netflix’s 700 million-plus customers. It can keep people entertained between seasons.
“We are not yet the Netflix of games, but that is where we are headed,” he said. “It is the biggest shift in entertainment in the last 30 years.”
Given how much young people interact with games, “We see we need to be there,” he said.
When it comes to linear entertainment, two things complement it. Games bring a sense of achievement. Games have also a strong sense of community. Jeet Shroff, vice president of games technology and portfolio development, joined Tascan on stage at the event at the Game Developers Conference. Before arriving at Netflix, both worked on Fortnite at Epic Games.
Netflix has taken risks throughout its history where others have called it crazy. Whereas but Netflix is there an opportunity to engage with some of the best creators in the world, Tascan said.
“A lot of Fortnite is juxtaposition, taking familiar things and flipping them on their head,” Shroff. “Then there is the idea of pushing them into the unexpected and making them uncomfortable. These are things that Netflix is good at.”
Netflix has had crossover shows and game successes like Squid Game. Shroff said Netflix is also focused on innovation that pushes the boundaries of what is possible. Some games will be accessible by remotes or smartphones. Some will be destinations for kids to play fun experiences.
“We are going after eliminating the maximum amount of friction,” Tascan said.
Spry Fox has a new cozy game coming from Netflix, Squid Game Unleashed will get an update when the third season comes out in June, and other titles are coming too.
“We want to challenge what is possible for a game to be,” Shroff said.
Mike Verdu helped get Netflix Games off the ground and built up the internal organization, which tapped a lot of external game developers to make mobile games that are free for players who subscribe to Netflix. The company acquired a number of developers and hired internal teams as well. Verdu left recently and Tascan has taken over the strategy for Netflix Games.
Tascan said he arrived and wanted to do things different, take risks and increase player density. He said by the end of the year, you will start to see investments coming that show the kind of experiences that only Netflix can do. Game controllers will be different.
Squid Game was No. 1 in more than 100 countries. But Tascan said Netflix is not yet satisfied, and it sees a lot of friction, and it hopes to eliminate a lot of that friction. It’s about engagement too. The aim is to match the overall disruption that Netflix has achieved in upending entertainment.
“We are not there yet,” he said. “It’s less about the quality but it is more about the friction we have on our games.”
Shroff said it’s about taking big swings and “owning the conversation, where it is the thing that is going to be talked about.”
Netflix is also doing party games, with games played on TV, Shroff said.
“In the living room, the TV is the largest real estate of entertainment,” he said. “We want to reimagine what social experiences unfold in the living room.”
As for consoles, Tascan said he would not say never but it is a red ocean and he is not clear where Netflix is in terms of company experience in that space. Younger audiences right now are interacting with any interactive digital screen, and so consoles may not be as high a priority in reaching those audiences.
With Netflix and games, Tascan said there is an opportunity to drive real disruption with game distribution and creating a deep connection with players through new experiences that are only possible on Netflix.
“I said to the team, ‘We have a golden ticket. What are we going to do with it,’” Tascan said.
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