It’s no secret at this point that Netflix has big aspirations in the gaming space. Over the last several years, the company has been releasing games on iOS and Android that are free to play for Netflix subscribers. Some of these games are first party titles based on Netflix content – Stranger Things and Narcos for example. However, other games are “Netflix Editions” of popular games like Spiritfarer for example.
The requirement of finding and installing these games in another company’s app store is a little clunky. But, Netflix now wants its games to be playable on every screen that Netflix videos can be played. That means moving beyond mobile apps and into cloud gaming.
Will Netflix become the real “Netflix for cloud gaming” that many other services have tried to become?
Official Word
The first official word about Netflix entering the cloud gaming space came back in October 2022. At that time, Mike Verdu, Netflix’s vice president for gaming, said that the company was “seriously considering” a cloud gaming service.
Then, in March of this year, Netflix’s Leanne Loombe confirmed that the project was “underway.” At the time, The Verge reported that Loombe said:
We are very early in that side of our journey. We do believe that cloud gaming will enable us to provide that easy access to games on any screen and be frictionless and provide the accessibility into gaming experiences.
As you can imagine, we do want Netflix games to be playable on every Netflix device that you have
Netflix clearly sees gaming in general as a way to extend its value proposition with users and to branch into another lucrative market. From the quote above, it is clear the company also understands one of the clear benefits of Cloud Gaming: the accessibility and convenience it provides.
Recent Hires
To cement this commitment to developing cloud gaming solutions, Netflix has recently made a number of strategic hires.
One is George Tsipolitis who was formerly the general manager of Amazon Luna. His new role at Netflix is as the Senior Director of Engineering for Gaming. It isn’t hard to put two and two together to conclude that some of the engineering challenges Netflix is tackling in the gaming space likely involve cloud gaming.
We should note that Netflix is famous for its use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) for most of its cloud computing, storage and other cloud needs. Thus, picking up an ex Luna manager could potentially indicate they intend to use AWS for their cloud gaming aspirations as well. But, we’re sure price competitiveness will play a big role in such a decision.
In April, Netflix also hired former Halo creative director Joseph Staten to work on first party AAA game development. He specifically called out the AAA part in a tweet announcing his move:
His tweet also specifically mentioned that the game in question would be “multiplatform.” This certainly makes sense as any initial Netflix cloud gaming platform would likely need to get its legs underneath it before it could really afford to be the sole home of a AAA title.
Update! Netflix has also just hired Raf Grassetti from the PlayStation God of War team. Who mentions others joining this great team as well including Jerry Edsall and Chacko Sonny who worked on the Gears and Overwatch games respectively.
Prior to these hires, Netflix had hired over a dozen experienced industry leaders in both the mobile and console gaming space with backgrounds from EA, Riot Games, Blizzard, PlayStation, Humble and more.
Netflix Games has Launched or Acquired 6 Game Studios
That’s right! At this point, Netflix has acquired no less than 6 game studios! These include:
- Spry Fox (October 2022)
- Netflix SoCal Studio (September 2022)
- Netflix Helsinki Studio (September 2022)
- Boss Fight Entertainment (March 2022)
- Next Games (March 2022)
- Night School (September 2021)
Most of the acquisitions are in the mobile gaming space, but we know from the hires above that they are also working on at least one AAA game with one or more of these entities.
Conclusions about Netflix Cloud Gaming Aspirations
The main thing we can conclude at this point about Netflix’s Cloud Gaming aspirations is that they have a LOT going on behind the scenes. It’s safe to say that this won’t be the last time we cover the topic here at Cloud Dosage.
They’ve put together a team with both the engineering chops to deliver cloud gaming and game developers with creative vision and the capability of taking a big game from inception through delivery. We expect to be hearing more about Netflix Cloud Gaming as time goes on. So, keep an eye on this space!
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Great article! From what we’re seeing, Netflix Games is definitely heading towards cloud gaming. It’s going to be fun seeing what they bring to the table. I can’t wait to see what AAA games they’re working on at the moment.