Netflix has tasted great success in the streaming services market with its huge collection of TV shows, movies and pressing documentaries. While it edges a bit ahead in overall likeability as compared to Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Hulu and HBO Max – the media streaming arena has become a bit saturated in the US in particular.
This is reason enough for the most popular subscription video service to venture into the world of game streaming. Yes, according to a report by Bloomberg, Netflix is foraying into one of the major entertainment segments – gaming.
Mike Verdu joins the ranks
Netflix has confirmed that they’ll be ready with their gaming offering on the platform next year. To that end, they’ve hired Mike Verdu, the former respected executive at big names like Oculus, Electronic Arts and Zynga –as the president of game development under their roof. Mike is going to report to Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters, who’s going to look over all the operations for this venture.
This is the starting point for Netflix’s next big adventure, as a gaming team will be formed in the coming months for the planned offering sometime next year. This is not the first time Netflix has experimented with gaming, as they’ve developed titles based on their popular shows, but they were released on mobile and gaming consoles only.
Cloud gaming battle to heat up
As a strategic move, the streaming platform will integrate video games as an integral part of its huge library for entertainment in a separate category just like the shows and movies. Don’t be surprised to see the initial set of games being offered to be highly interactive as Netflix had success with interactive shows like Bandersnatch.
This move will put Netflix in direct competition with cloud-based gaming service giants like Stadia who have got a strong foothold in the game streaming market and looking to bring new features every week or so. This move hints at the future of entertainment in a way and Netflix wants to join the bandwagon sooner rather than later!
