Video games are coming to Netflix for all subscribers
The Stadia and Luna teams can't like this news.
Netflix is in the "early stages of further expanding into games," the company said in a shareholder letter released ahead of its earnings call on Tuesday. There's no list of titles revealed yet, but the lineup will be "primarily focused on games for mobile devices," the letter said.
It sounds like Netflix is treating the addition of games to its streaming service as a new product offering for existing subscribers, meaning it's not going to carry any additional fees — at least at the start. Though, of course, anything that adds value to the overall service can also be used to justify future price hikes.
The letter goes on to note, per The Hollywood Reporter: "We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV. 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."
Expect more news to be shared in due time, and likely as soon as the Tuesday investor call. But the announcement comes only days after reports surfaced that Netflix hired Mike Verdu, a former executive at Electronic Arts (and Facebook as well), in a "VP of Game Development" role.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
