Netflix could be on its way to becoming one of the most prolific video game publishers in the industry.
The company, on its latest earnings call, announced it has 80 titles in development at present and plans to launch a new one each month, starting this month.
The majority of the titles, said Gregory K. Peters, Netflix co-CEO, president and director, will be “interactive narrative games” that are based on the company’s IP. They’ll be dubbed Netflix Stories.
Netflix already has a catalog of 100 games, many of which are meant to promote its own shows and movies. The company also, however, has a catalog of third-party games you might not expect, with titles including Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto Vice City and World of Goo. In addition, several games tied to its IP offer non-“interactive narrative” storylines, including a Queen’s Gambit chess game and 80s-themed Stranger Things games.
“We’ve launched over 100 games so far. We’ve seen what works, what doesn’t work. We’re refining our program to do more of what is working,” said Peter.
Netflix initially entered the video game industry in 2021 with five titles. The company quickly acquired three studios and tapped former Zynga chief creative officer Mike Verdu to oversee the effort. In 2022, the company announced plans to establish an internal game development studio in Helsinki, Finland.
Netflix got into the video game space as its subscriber growth slowed and customers grew weary of streaming video after binging so much during the heart of the pandemic.
“We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV,” it said at the time.
