Netflix Games was one of very few mobile-first companies to show up for the last week of summer games showcases.
The streaming giant pre-empted the week with an announcement that included 14 more games coming to the platform, and later popped up in the Day of the Devs and Future Game Show streams. It also had a physical presence at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days event.
After grabbing plenty of headlines with the addition of Rockstar’s remastered GTA trilogy late last year, 2024’s line-up includes indie games from the likes of Klei and titles based on its own TV shows, including The Dragon Prince: Xadia and Too Hot To Handle. There’s also Spry Fox’s life sim Cozy Grove, and a nod to the ‘classic casual’ player with the addition of Hearts.
As part of that push, we got the chance to do quick email Q&A with VP and head of external games at Netflix Leanne Loombe.
So we asked about the impact of those GTA games, what the Netflix Games strategy is overall, whether it plans on adding IAPs and ads and more. Our questions and her responses are in full below.
How are those GTA games performing for you? Are they considered a success considering the rumoured cost of acquiring them? (Some have suggested they were $50m as a package)
We’re super happy with GTA’s performance. Our engagement tripled year over year in 2023, and the GTA, along with titles like Storyteller, Football Manager Mobile, Farming Simulator and others helped us understand that there is a demand for more great games on mobile in a variety of different genres.
What type of games are you signing right now? From the outside there appears to be a focus on perhaps more niche indie games and narrative titles, is that fair?
Our North Star is to have a game on Netflix that appeals to every one of our members. The same way you might, on Netflix, watch a whole season of a reality show one weekend, then watch an award winning film during the week – we want our members to have that same choice in games, and that will come from variety and breadth within the portfolio, as well as a focus on quality.
And of course we want to take advantage of the biggest opportunity we have, which is building games in the worlds of beloved Netflix series and films, so you’re seeing a lot of that too.
Discoverability is a problem for everyone right now, in what ways are you helping developers to get in front of the right audience? Do you help with marketing, PR and so on?
One of our biggest advantages is the Netflix product. We have more than 270 million subscribers, and recently we’ve started offering personalized game recommendations in the games row/tab, based on your viewing and playing history.
Long term, imagine opening your phone or watching TV and being served recommendations for games you’ll love. We’re really excited about the potential there. We’re always exploring new things, too.
For example, you might see games displayed in larger billboards on your mobile devices, on your TV screen, or be prompted with a QR code to download a game after you finish a related TV series or film. We’re testing lots of things, but we only want to move forward with features we know enhance our members’ experiences.
Developers have a lot of options when pitching to game subscription services these days – what do you think makes your offering unique?
First and foremost is the reach. It’s not always enough to have a great game because, as you said, discoverability is such a challenge. But with 270M subscribers, recommendations based on your viewing/playing history, and the opportunity to launch games alongside our series and films, we hope to solve a lot of the challenges developers face.
The other big one is creative freedom. Developers can work with us without having to worry about monetization and just focus on the best player experience possible. For others, it’s the ability to work on beloved Netflix IP and help expand the worlds our members love so much.
Part of the reason some folks think that Netflix might give up on games is that this is an expensive business and there doesn’t seem to be any plan to make any ROI. Are you sticking with the ‘no IAPs or ads’ ethos or could that change?
Our ambition has always been to add value to Netflix memberships through games, and while this is a long term bet for us, we’re already seeing it happen.
Where are you with the triple-A shooter and party games that you have been hiring for? What can you tell us about your ‘big screen’ games plans?
Our long-term goal is to have games playable on every device our members have Netflix – including TVs, computers and mobile. We now have a very limited test running in eight countries with just a handful of games that test our game streaming technology and Netflix second screen controller. And similar to what we’ve said about mobile, we’ll want games of all genres.
Where’s Monument Valley 3?!
Monument Valley 1 and 2 are coming to Netflix later this year 😀
