Bulletins

Netflix confirms gaming efforts will focus on mobile

The company shared additional details about its ambitions for gaming in conjunction with the release of its Q2 earnings.

Netflix confirms gaming efforts will focus on mobile

The company has no plans to charge members additional fees for access to games.

Photo: Unsplash

The video service officially confirmed plans to get into the video game space in its letter to investors Tuesday. "We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV," the letter reads.

Netflix's gaming efforts will initially be focused on mobile, and the company has no plans to charge members additional fees for access to games. "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," the company said.

News about Netflix's gaming ambitions first broke last week, when the company confirmed the hire of former Facebook and EA exec Mike Verdu.

The company shared additional details about its ambitions for gaming in conjunction with the release of its Q2 earnings, which showed a significant slowdown in growth. Netflix added just 1.5 million paying members in the quarter, something it attributed to "unusual choppiness" due to the pandemic.

Janko Roettgers

Janko Roettgers (Twitter, Mastodon) used to be a senior reporter at Protocol, reporting on the shifting power dynamics between tech, media, and entertainment, including the impact of new technologies. Previously, Janko was Variety's first-ever technology writer in San Francisco, where he covered big tech and emerging technologies. He has reported for Gigaom, Frankfurter Rundschau, Berliner Zeitung, and ORF, among others. He has written three books on consumer cord-cutting and online music and co-edited an anthology on internet subcultures. He lives with his family in Oakland.

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