Netflix Reportedly Adding Games "In the Next Year"

As hinted back in May, Bloomberg reports that Netflix is planning to add games to its streaming service sometime within the next year.

Netflix has hired Mike Verdu, formerly of Facebook/Oculus and EA, as "vice president of game development", which implies that the streaming giant is looking at creating its own games rather than just licensing out others. Verdu was Facebook's vice president in charge of working with developers to bring games and other content to Oculus virtual-reality headsets.

Credit: Netflix

"The idea is to offer video games on Netflix's streaming platform within the next year," the report says, adding that "the company doesn't currently plan to charge extra for the content."

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It looks like Netlix executives have been looking at Microsoft's growing success with the Game Pass platform, and while this might initially seem like a weird move from a streaming company best known for movies and TV shows, it makes sense when you consider that Netfix is a media company competing against Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.

As the story from Gamasutra reported, Google is about to start giving developers a cut based on how long people play their game, so Netflix might follow a similar business model, but given the company's ruthlessness in killing off shows, it just feels somehow worse.