Netflix is dropping more details about its expansion into gaming. In a Tuesday letter to investors, the company revealed the gaming effort will focus on mobile devices for now, instead of TV-based gaming.
Titles will arrive as a free perk for Netflix’s paid subscribers, won’t have to worry about in-game ads. “It’s a multiyear effort,” Netflix Chief Product Officer Greg Peters said in an earnings call. “We’re going to start relatively small, we’ll learn, we’ll grow where we focus our investment based on what we see is working and we’ll just continuously improve based on what our members are telling us is working.”
Peters points out mobile games are often filled with ads or in-game purchases to draw revenue. The games from Netflix, on the other hand, will be free of monetization schemes, which promises to help them stand out.
Expect some of the games to revolve around Netflix shows and movies. “We know the fans of those stories want to go deeper, they want to engage further, they actually want to direct a little bit where their energy goes,” Peters said.
“So, we’re going to try a bunch of different games through a variety of different mechanisms to see what’s really working for our members,” he added.
But other games will arrive as standalone titles. “Maybe someday, we’ll see a game that spawns a film or series that would be an amazing place to get to,” Peters added.
Netflix’s push into gaming also occurs amid slow growth for new paid subscribers. During this year’s second quarter, the streaming service only added 1.5 million new subscribers.
In the US and Canada, the company also lost 400,000 subscribers. However, Netflix is projecting growth will increase in Q3 to 3.5 million paid subscribers due to an uptick in new TV shows and movies running on the service. Currently, the service has 209 million subscribers worldwide.