Netflix’s interest in video games is expanding. Prior to this, the company did show some interest in the video game industry by creating shows based around video games, but recently we have been hearing reports that Netflix wants to expand beyond that and maybe even offer video games of its own.
The company has been coy about their plans without officially confirming or denying it, although their latest hire certainly seems to be a huge clue. A report from Bloomberg has revealed that Netflix has recently hired former Electronics Arts and Facebook executive Mke Verdu, where he will be the VP of game development and will report to Netflix’s COO Greg Peters.
Verdu’s position at Facebook saw him work with developers to bring games to the Oculus VR headset, so it is possible that he could be using that expertise to bring games onto Netflix as well. At the moment not much is known about Netflix’s plan for games, although given that streaming is at the core of their business, maybe we could see something like what Microsoft, Google, NVIDIA, and Amazon are offering.
Alternatively they could also adopt a similar strategy to Apple Arcade, where a monthly subscription will give them access to an entire catalogue of games. The report claims that this service could launch as soon as 2022, which means that we might not need to wait too long to find out more details.