Earlier this year, Netflix had revealed about its significant loss of 2 lakh subscribers during the first quarter. Consequently, the streaming giant even began brainstorming to provide ad-supported, cheaper plans for its subscribers for the first time since its inception. And all of this to retain and widen its subscriber base worldwide and to stay ahead of competing OTT players like Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video.
Beyond the brouhaha surrounding the subscriber loss news, Netflix is slowly and steadily scaling up its gaming portfolio. In November last year, the OTT giant had diversified beyond its staple programming of movies and TV shows portfolio to the largely untapped gaming territory with the launch of five small games.
And Netflix’s intention of betting big on their gaming division became all the more evident on the fifth day of the Netflix Geeked event. Netflix has unveiled an exciting slate of many new games including the ones based on some of their own popular series.
At Netflix Geeked, it was announced that several Netflix shows will be getting their own game adaptations/spin-offs. For instance, the cult heist series ‘Money Heist’ will get a spin-off game titled ‘La Casa De Papel: The Game’ in which players will be part of a story where the Professor’s old friend coerces his team to rob a shady billionaire’s casino in Monaco.
Furthermore, Netflix’s Emmy & Golden Globe winning show ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ is also getting a video game treatment with ‘The Queen’s Gambit: Chess’. The game is a homage to the parent show and allows players to take chess lessons from Mr. Shaibel, compete with Borgov and play against friends.
Likewise, the Netflix fantasy show ‘Shadow and Bone’ will get a single player and narrative driven game titled ‘Shadow and Bone: Destinies’. In the game, the players can step into the shoes of their most loved characters and make decisions as the game’s story moves forward.
And finally, another game which was announced was based on the reality series ‘Too Hot to Handle’ where players will be able to interact with hot singles in a concept akin to the show. Netflix has announced that by the end of 2022, there will be more than 50 games on their gaming menu. Here is a summary of what’s in store for Netflix subscribers.
The concept of films and shows based on popular games like Resident Evil, Uncharted, and The Last of Us has stood the test of time. But the notion of games based on streamer’s original properties is innovative and might prove to be the trump card and differentiating strategy for Netflix in order to stay on top of the cut-throat OTT world and ahead of its competition.
Whether or not Netflix games can be the next big thing for the OTT world and whether betting big on its gaming portfolio will yield rich dividends for the OTT platform in the future, can only be ascertained in the next few years starting from 2022. Provided that the games are worthy of playing and live up to the high standards set by the shows. But one thing is for sure – in case Netflix games click big time with OTT subscribers, then Netflix will certainly benefit from the first movers’ advantage. And perhaps later, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video might soon follow suit because the potential is endless.