What you need to know
- As part of its Q2 shareholder letter, Netflix announced that it is expanding into gaming.
- Netflix is focusing on mobile games for now, which will be available at no additional cost.
- This push is still in the "early stages" for now
Netflix is a name synonymous with streaming entertainment with movies and TV. Now, the company is officially expanding into games. Netflix announced its intention to explore games, specifically mobile titles for now, in a Q2 results shareholder letter. Netflix notes that this new push won't come at extra cost to users and will be initially focused on mobile games.
"We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV. Games will be included in members' Netflix subscription at no additional cost similar to films and series. Initially, we'll be primarily focused on games for mobile devices," the statement reads.
Netflix also notes that this expansion is meant to supplement movies and TV but not replace the existing content strategy.
"We're excited as ever about our movies and TV series offering and we expect a long runway of increasing investment and growth across all of our existing content categories, but since we are nearly a decade into our push into original programming, we think the time is right to learn more about how our members value games."
Netflix in games is in the "early stages" for now, so it'll be a while before we know exactly what else this move will entail. While many mobile games are simple, designed as brief experiences lasting just a few minutes per session, more complex mobile games are growing. Mobile gaming continues to boom, with multiple traditional publishers exploring different avenues, such as Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming, which streams a console experience to users' phones, computers or tablets.
