Why Netflix is seeking a slice of the gaming pie

Last week, Netflix announced that it was releasing its first mobile games on its platform and on the Google and Apple app stores.

The company started with five mobile games - Stranger Things: 1984 (BonusXP), Stranger Things 3: The Game (BonusXP), Shooting Hoops (Frosty Pop), Card Blast (Amuzo & Rogue Games), and Teeter Up (Frosty Pop).

"...We're excited to take our first step in launching Netflix games on mobile to the world. Starting today, members everywhere can play five mobile games... We want to begin to build a library of games that offers something for everyone," the company said in a post to launch its first games.

The company had announced its foray into gaming in July as a move to boost its growth.

The reason for the company's move to secure a slice of the gaming pie may be a bit deeper than just boosting subscriber counts each quarter.

According to the Statista Digital Market Outlook, video was the second-largest revenue maker in 2020 at over $75 billion in value, a number that utterly dwarfed music and e-publishing, which clocked in at $21 billion and $25 billion respectively. However, video was overtaken heavily by video games, which clocked in a revenue of $134 billion - more than all the other three put together.

It is easy to see why Netflix would want to break into the market - the company had a revenue of $20 billion last year, giving it nearly one-third of the total video revenue of 2020. However, that is a far cry from some of the biggest games of the year - PUBG Mobile, for example, earned $2.6 billion in 2020 alone, with over 50 million players logging into the game daily.

Netflix has a subscriber count of 214 million worldwide. 2020 proved that gaming was a behemoth as when people locked in their homes due to the pandemic, over 2 billion players logged into their favourite games, and well over 31 billion hours were spent on the activity worldwide. The prospect of converting its subscribers - or indeed gaining more subscribers - is highly tempting for the company.

It has openly said it aims to compete with hit games such as Fortnite for people's online entertainment time, and analysts suggest offering games could help attract new subscribers. "Just like our series, films and specials, we want to design games for any level of play and every kind of player," Netflix said, though time will tell if its first steps into the market will prove successful.

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