Netflix Is Getting Into Video Games

Netflix will get into video games in the next year, increasing from its business of TV and movies as the world’s biggest subscription video service, Report revealed by Bloomberg. This would move Netflix into a significant entertainment segment — gaming — that it sees as some of its most difficult competition for your attention.

Netflix also said on Wednesday that it’s hired a former Oculus, Electronic Arts, and Zynga executive, Mike Verdu, as vice president of games development. It refused to comment beyond his hiring.

Netflix also said recently that it would be engaged in stepping up its pursuit of gaming. The company has teased with games before through its interactive, choose-your-own-adventure-style programming like Bandersnatch and through some licensing and merchandising partnerships.

“We’re trying to figure out what are all these different ways … we can deepen that fandom, and certain games are a really interesting component of that,” Greg Peters said at the time. “There’s no doubt that games are going to be an important form of entertainment and an important modality to deepen that fan experience.”

As Netflix has expanded to more than 207 million subscribers worldwide, it has long looked out that its competition extends beyond the traditional TV and movie companies that go in competition with Netflix more directly. It’s frequently called out gaming giants like Fortnite, as well as user-generated-content powerhouse YouTube, as some of its most difficult competition for the large collection of entertainment hours they hoover up worldwide.