As giant as one is in his field, one does not necessarily proclaim himself a tenor in another. This is what Netflix has been learning for a few months. At the end of 2021, the number one in video streaming launched its Netflix Games service to keep its users on its platform a little longer by offering video game extras. A year later, the service is struggling to take off.
“We have always had a very clear strategy. We said that we were going to start small, fill the catalog over time with an offer that would grow, diversify and enrich itself”, confesses Mike Verdu, director of Netflix Gaming, at Tech&Co.
However, a study conducted a few months ago showed that less than 1% of Netflix subscribers took advantage of the games offered in the application each month. Available on iOS and Android, Netflix Games is, however, visible by scrolling down the home page, but it seems to go completely unnoticed by fans of the series and movies.
Find subscribers through mobile game
However, it is not about abandoning the idea of offering a video game complement to the streaming catalog while Netflix has been experiencing a disaffection of subscribers for a few months. The desire to find solutions is there and this can be achieved through mobile gaming, a booming segment with almost three billion potential players worldwide. And if that can inflate the number of registrants while also attracting video game fans…
Netflix Games wants to pick up players where they are, on consoles. The announcement of the upcoming arrival of independent titles that have made a small name for themselves on PlayStation or Xbox (Spiritfarer, Kentucky Route Zero, Raji: An Ancient Epic Enhanced Edition…) is a first sent signal. Reed Hastings’ company is now accelerating by announcing a partnership with Ubisoft for three new mobile games, but in universes well known to gamers.
Revealed during the Ubisoft Forward event and available exclusively in 2023, their mission will be to take Netflix to the next level in its desire to become a player in the sector, but also to help Ubisoft establish itself more massively on a new platform, with the hoping to seduce a swath of Netflix’s hundreds of millions of subscribers. A potentially beneficial collaboration for all. “It’s a very interesting strategic partnership,” admits Jean-Michel Detoc, head of Ubisoft’s mobile games division.
A win-win partnership
Therefore, Netflix and Ubisoft have agreed to design three games. to get started brave heartsFollowing Unknown Soldiers: Memoirs of the Great War, which narrated the daily life of soldiers during the First World War. A moving title that “played with emotion and history, while being educational and perfect for the mobile format”, underlines Jean-Michel Detoc. the mighty searchTaken from the franchise of the same name, it promises to be much more rock’n’roll in its endlessly replayable and ruthless fighting game experience.
Finally, it was hard to imagine such an association without Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft’s most famous franchise arrives in a live-action original series adaptation on Netflix. If the game will not follow the same framework and is promised “unreleased”, it is in itself the symbol of this union and the guarantee of quality for the Californian company, most likely it will attract the curious just by name.
Almost 70 games by the end of 2022
“Whenever we can be on new platforms and that allows us to bring something more to the players, it is in our DNA to try. Ubisoft has strong brands for that”, sums up Jean-Michel Detoc who assures that his teams had “the same attention to detail, the same attention to quality as for a console or a PC game”.
This partnership with Ubisoft will certainly give the service a boost. Mike Verdu promises “around 70 games available by the end of 2022” (there are currently almost thirty) and many more to come. “We are not looking for Netflix original content to be the only ones around which we create our games,” insists the latter, although a game money theft comes up and games Strange things keep Netflix games afloat.
And Netflix took the opportunity to launch an appeal to other publishers who would be happy to take advantage of the pool of potential new players that Netflix has against a little knowledge in new titles. “In the coming months you will see a more balanced offer arrive, for all audiences and all levels of skill and experience. This collaboration is in a way a sample of what is to come and of the importance that we also give to collaboration “. Mike Verdu hangs up. Netflix isn’t ready to give up the game just yet.
Source: BFM TV
