The video game community has known that Netflix will expand into video games for some time. The company stated its interest in the gaming market in July of 2021 and has since been acquiring some gaming studios. Most recently, Netflix bought Boss Fight Entertainment, the developer behind Dungeon Boss. Now, it seems that the streaming giant is taking its partnership with video games to the next level, as it announces a huge number of titles that will reportedly be available by the end of 2022.According to a recent report, Netflix intends to offer close to 50 games to people by the end of the year. Of course, these titles will not come in one huge drop towards the end of the year and will be staggered throughout 2022, and the company already offers 17. These games will all be for mobile platforms, according to the report, meaning that fans expecting a AAA Stranger Things title may have to wait a little while longer.Netflix's announcement of its expansive games development comes after the company faced a significant loss in subscribers. For the first time in a decade, Netflix reported a subscriber loss in its most recent quarterly report. Apart from cracking down on password sharing among one Netflix account, the subscription service also seems to be expanding its avenues for income following this loss.
The streaming titan has had somewhat of an established history with video games. Previously, Netflix has developed a Stranger Things mobile game, titled Stranger Things: 1984. It has also explored the idea of a movie being a game, after it produced Bandersnatch, which allowed players to make choices on what would happen in the film's plot similar to a Telltale game. More recently, Netflix has announced an upcoming game centered around the card game Exploding Kittens.
The Exploding Kittens video game will be accompanied by a TV show too, which makes another addition to Netflix's line-up of video game shows. Animated series like Arcane and Castlevania have been seen as some of Netflix's best animated shows and have brought in viewers from gaming audiences. It seems clear, then, that Netflix understands the profit there is to be had in the market of video games. With so many already established publishers and developers, it may be hard for the streaming company to squeeze its way into the gaming sphere. However, fifty mobile games releasing in the space of a year isn't a bad start.
Source: Washington Post