Netflix might be the world’s largest subscription streaming service with more than 180 million paid subscribers worldwide, but it seems it’s not resting on its laurels. Growing evidence – collected by TheVerge – suggests that Netflix itself wants to become the Netflix of games.
The rumours started last Friday when The Information reported that Netflix was looking to expand beyond film and TV content. The article revealed that the streaming giant was on the hunt for a top executive to oversee a major push into gaming.
Then, on Monday, Axios followed up by quoting an anonymous source who tipped the upcoming service to be “a smaller Apple Arcade” bundle, featuring a mix of Netflix-developed games and indie titles. The source claimed ‘Netflix Arcade’ could launch as soon as 2022.
Other outlets have since suggested that Netflix had already approached several high-flying games industry veterans with a view to offering subscribers both streamed and downloadable games.
If the rumours are true, ‘Netflix Arcade’ will be the company’s second significant foray into button-bashing. Back in 2019, Netflix teamed up with Finnish studio Next Games to create a puzzle role-player based on the hit 80s-themed horror series, Stranger Things.
Netflix is yet to comment, but in the past, in a statement issued to GameSpot, it has hinted that interactive experiences are very much on its radar:
“Members… enjoy engaging more directly with stories they love – through interactive shows like Bandersnatch and You v. Wild, or games based on Stranger Things, La Casa de Papel and To All the Boys. So we’re excited to do more with interactive entertainment.”
In the past 20 years we’ve seen many a video game franchises, from Tomb Raider to Resident Evil, adapted for the big screen. Netflix is currently showing four series of Castlevania, a TV show based on the hit 90s platformer, while Paramount+ is expected to launch its Xbox-inspired Halo TV series in February 2022.
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