Netflix to add videogames

Netflix appears to be adding videogames to its service.

The streaming giant announced it will join the cloud videogames industry, bringing on board former EA and Facebook figure  Mike Verdu as Vice President of game development.

Netflix joins an already crowded cloud games market, with Apple, Google, Sony, and Microsoft all offering their own cloud-based services.

A games section will reportedly sit alongside Netflix’s TV and film streaming options, and will be offered at no extra cost to subscribers.

According to Forbes, it will include both Netflix’s own properties as well as offerings from independent studios.

Netflix has experimented with interactive formats in the past, including the interactive film/games Bandersnatch (2018), Carmen Sandiago: To Steal or Not To Steal (2019), and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt vs The Reverend (2020).

A Netflix spokesperson recently told Polygon that the company was “excited to do more with interactive entertainment.”

As Forbes reports, the move comes as the company has revised down its predictions for the number of subscribers to its platform. In the first quarter of 2021, the platform had 3.98 million new subscribers worldwide, significantly less than a predicted six million.

The company currently has a total of 207.4 million paid subscribers, and is targeting the lucrative videogame industry, which has over three billion users.

Netflix games are expected to come to the platform in 2022.