A couple of months ago, rumors started floating around that Netflix is getting into the video games space. Although the company did not confirm the report, it did not deny it either like it did in 2018 when similar rumors emerged. Today, another report has claimed that the firm will be entering the gaming scene as early as next year and has also signed on a leadership role for the venture.
Bloomberg (paywall) says that Netflix has hired Mike Verdu as the "vice president of game development". The executive has previously worked at Electronic Arts and was also the managing director of augmented and virtual reality at Facebook. The title of the designation implies that Netflix will be developing its own games rather than just licensing titles from third-parties, although this has not been confirmed yet.
While the report claims that Netflix will enter this space in 2022, it does not indicate what kind of experience the firm is planning. The distribution format of video games is also unclear, but sources close to the matter have suggested that the company does not plan to charge more for this capability.
Although some may find it odd that the TV streaming giant is venturing into video games, it is important to note that the firm competes for leadership over media content being played on TVs, which doesn't necessarily have to be traditional movies and TV shows. Further evidence of this experiment can be seen in 2018's release of interactive thriller Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
That said, it is important to note that none of these plans have been officially confirmed by the firm, so they are susceptible to change, if they ever do come to fruition.
Source: Bloomberg (paywall) via Kotaku
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