A Netflix Original Game: Content, Commitment, and Controllers

A Netflix Original Game: Content, Commitment, and Controllers

Written by Randy McLeod

Netflix is looking to expand its media portfolio. This comes following a recent report from Bloomberg that the streaming giant has hired EA and Facebook’s Mike Verdu to head up a new gaming division for the platform. With an overpopulated market in the video-streaming world, Netflix is looking to stand apart from its competition by increasing its offerings to the subscribing customer. However, will its approach lead to another Google Stadia? Or will the platform become one of the first consolidated media success stories? 

In fairness, a lot of the pieces are lining up in Netflix’s favor. Adding gaming to their service would help the platform stand out from the sea of other streaming platforms, (honestly, what the hell is Paramount Plus?). It’s likely looking at the boom in gaming caused by the pandemic this last year-and-a-half as well, with big companies like Microsoft  reporting multiplayer gaming to be up 130% between March and April of 2020. They have a good ringleader in Verdu. As the vice-president of Facebook’s gaming division, he helped VR developers deliver games to the Oculus platform, leading to a platform that sold well beyond Facebook’s expectations. It makes sense for the platform to move into video games, but I believe it needs to solve three things to succeed: Content, Controllers, and Commitment. 

CONTENT

With all of this being said, Netflix is seemingly running before it can prove able to walk. The initial report from Bloomberg states that Netflix is looking to add gaming to its service within the next year. One year to create a library of content to launch a new genre on their platform with, assuming that the hiring of Verdu is the beginning of their push into the gaming space. Given the development time of  video games can range anywhere from a few months to a few years, it seems unlikely that Netflix will be able to boast a large amount of content right out of the gate.

If Netflix intends to launch their service within the next year, it would stand to reason that they would pad their library with third-party games. Ubisoft has been very streaming-friendly, lending their library of Ubisoft Originals to services like Google Stadia, even having a dedicated channel for Amazon Luna, so it would make sense that they’d be willing to do the same for Netflix. This could help the service, but doesn’t add anything unique to Netflix’s offerings, other than consolidating your TV and video games into one package. If anything, it just creates one more way to access the same content. Not a bad thing, but a boring thing. 

If the platform is looking for original content it seems likely they will have to go down the publisher route. The Netflix model for their shows has been to pay for the production of a show, followed by a 30% premium. This could translate to video games, should the platform be serious about their latest foray, which could be a great thing for games from indie developers. If an indie is nearing the finish line, it may be in Netflix’s best interest to help them along in exchange for platform exclusivity. For myself, a library of new indies to play on a service I’m already paying for will absolutely entice me to give it a try. 

COMMITMENT

Another hurdle to tackle for the company, if they plan to develop original content, is commitment. We’ve all been there; there’s a show on Netflix that we love, (Daredevil), that gets cancelled before it can finish a story arc that showrunners were intending, leading to a sloppy finish to an underappreciated show. Shows and video games are different in quite a few metrics, but what’s to stop Netflix from axing a sequel to a game players fell in love with, should they not see it as profitable? What if a trilogy is cut short, forever lost to time, because not enough people played it to justify the cost and development time?

Cost and development time is what caused Google Stadia, Google’s game streaming platform, to completely shift away from their original platform pitch. It resulted in cancellations of several projects that were in development, and even the shuttering of their in-house development studio, headed by industry veteran Jade Raymond, two years after the launch of the platform. This lack of commitment from Google is an example of what can happen to Netflix, should it try to dip its toe in the water instead of committing to diving in. 

CONTROLLERS

In 2018, BusinessofApps stated that 70% of people stream Netflix on a TV. That means the minority of their subscriber base are doing so on a gaming console, or on a PC. Which means that up to 70% of people that use Netflix may not have access to a gamepad to play streaming titles with. Granted, some of that 70% may have a gamepad lying around the house in some form, but those that have never gotten into gaming and are looking to try it won’t have the necessary hardware. It would make sense for Netflix to produce a different pricing model that will send you a gamepad as a part of a theoretical “game plan”, but it seems like a clunky way to do so. People that already pay for Netflix may be upset that they have to make an investment into a controller to access content that they are paying for. Cost on top of monthly cost is always a bold ask. Xbox will seemingly have this problem as well as they plan to add their own game streaming option to newer models of smart TVs. It’s likely that newer TVs hitting the market shelf will be bundled with a controller, but how does this work with Netflix? Will we see TV bundles with a choice of Xbox, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, or Netflix controller? It seems like an overwhelming choice to those that are looking to enter the gaming scene for the first time. 

CONCLUSION

With the eagerness to hit the market quickly, rather than methodically, Netflix risks the games as a service launch curse. The game/service launches bare-bones, with hopes that people will jump on board early and champion it while they play catch up with more content in the following months and years. I’m hopeful, but worried that Netflix will rush into a market that they are new to. Amazon Luna is currently taking things slow with their streaming platform, being in early access for almost a year now, likely to avoid the pitfalls that Stadia fell into with their half-baked launch. Perhaps Netflix should do something similar, not fully launching the service to all customers right off the bat until they have something to show for it. Because really, do customers want to play Watch Dogs 2 again, but this time on a movie streaming platform? I know I don’t.