Netflix’s game plans aren’t really about making video games

• Netflix is ​​said to have major plans to add video games to its very popular streaming service.
• These games could hit Netflix as early as next year, according to Bloomberg.
• But what kind of games should users expect? A Netflix job listing paints a pretty clear picture.

With over 200 million paying subscribers worldwide, Netflix is ​​an absolute monster.

The streaming entertainment giant has successfully grown from a rambling start-up paying for licensed content to a major Hollywood player, spending tens of millions of dollars on its own productions.

So what’s next for

Netflix
? The answer to this question, at least in part, seems to be video games.

The company has just hired former EA executive Mike Verdu to head its “Interactive” department, and a new Bloomberg report says the plan is to add games directly to the streaming service. These games would appear in the same app you currently use to watch the new season of “I Think You Should Go,” although that’s its own genre, according to the report.

But don’t expect to see the latest “Super Mario” or “Call of Duty” games on Netflix anytime soon.

The goal of Netflix’s games division is to “create new kinds of stories and new product experiences,” says a Netflix job listing. These games will be overseen by Netflix’s new “Interactive” department.

The game library is apparently intended as a marketing hook for the existing service rather than a reason in itself to subscribe. The goal of games created by Netflix Interactive is “to improve and deepen member engagement,” the list says.

We already have a pretty good idea of ​​what these games will look like, as the job listing explicitly mentions a previous example of “games” produced by Netflix: “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”.

Viewers of the special episode “Black Mirror” can interact with the plot elements using their remote control, effectively changing the direction of the story and its characters.

While it contains gameplay elements, such as light interactivity and divergent storytelling, “Bandersnatch” is different from most video games in every way.

This may not matter for future Netflix Interactive games, which likely won’t compete directly with games on other platforms.

“The opportunity before us is to expand our roster of innovations and interactive capabilities, including, but not limited to, new types of features, gaming experiences and different ways of interacting. with the stories, ”the job listing reads. “It’s time to reimagine the future of entertainment once again.”

Rather than making traditional video games, this sounds off the list like Netflix Interactive aims to do. Something interactive that leans more towards the world of cinema than the world of video games.

It remains to be seen exactly what that looks like, but it could happen as early as next year on Netflix: according to the Bloomberg report, Netflix wants to have games on its platforms “by next year”.

“I think they’re going to try, and I think they’re going to fail,” Wedbush CEO Michael Pachter told Insider in May regarding Netflix’s gaming ambitions. “It’s hard to play games.”

Pachter is also critical of the possibility that Netflix is ​​making games so quickly.

He said there was “no chance” of this happening in a recent episode of Bloomberg Quick Take: “They don’t have a team, they can’t make games, and the idea that they think they’re going to launch games next year is crazy. There’s no way they’ll get anything done next year. “

Do you have any advice? Contact senior Insider correspondent Ben Gilbert by email ([email protected]), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We may keep the sources anonymous. Use an unprofessional device to reach out. RP pitches by email only, please.