We’re well into the streaming wars, but there’s been one major medium that has so far been left untapped by all of the major services: video games. Back in May, Netflix — the streamer that started it all — announced they were finally correcting that, hiring an executive to belatedly add games to its already well-stocked arsenal. Now, only two months later, the gears for that plan are already in motion.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, not only is the streaming giant getting into video games, they’ll be a free add-on to your already existing subscription. This is all in the larval stage, but at least initially, Netflix will be “primarily focused” on making sure that games are available for mobile devices, not for your fancy big home TVs (at least at first).
That’s also to say that they didn’t reveal when video games will start becoming part of the overall Netflix experience. Nor did they reveal which titles they’d make available for playing — if they’d be creating their own games or if they’d work out some deal with video game companies. The latter seems likely, as they’ve already inked deals to create series out of such popular games as Castlevania and The Witcher, with Assassin’s Creed and Cyberpunk 2077 shows en route.
Whatever happens, this surely means other streamers will, as always, take Netflix’s lead, making the streaming wars even more contentious than they were already. But at some point, it looks like you may be able to do some gaming when you get bored of whatever new $200 million Netflick you were watching.
(Via THR)