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😂 Trying to extrapolate Netflix closing a gaming studio with things not going well. And maybe even Netflix abandoning gaming???

It helps to read Netflix's investor letter and listen to the analyst call from last week when they reported earnings. If you had, you'd know they will continue to invest in gaming

From Investor Letter:

We’re pleased that we’ve reaccelerated our growth and, as we head into 2025, we expect to deliver solid revenue and profit growth by both improving our core series and film offering while investing in new growth initiatives like ads and gaming.

[ . . . ]

At just under 10% of TV time today in our biggest countries, we believe there’s a huge opportunity to grow that share by investing even more in our slate and continuing to improve the variety and quality of our offering. Part of that improvement is ensuring we have a steady drumbeat of great, new TV shows, movies and games throughout the year to satisfy our members.



From analyst call Q&A:

Gregory K. Peters
Co-CEO, President & Director

Our second set of priorities are about planting seeds, these investments and new initiatives that help us expand and strengthen our entertainment offering and that we believe will be incremental levers for growth in the coming years. We've got initiatives like games. We're excited about games based on Netflix IPs. We got a Squid Game coming. We've got a Virgin River Christmas. We've got The Ultimatum. We've got games based on storied game classics like Monument Valley 3 that's coming out.

[ . . . ]

I think it's also worth noting that we've got a lot on our plate right now. We've got a lot of hard work building new capabilities. We're building ads. We're building games. We're building live. Those all expand that offering. They deliver more value to members. So we want to focus on building those capabilities.
The article is about them closing their "Gaming Studio", not them moving away from mobile gaming. Therefore gaming is not working out for them from a development standpoint. Furthermore, earnings calls for to go over the current state of the business and project future endeavors. Between 2021 and 2022 Netflix went on a gaming studio buying spree, the fact that three years later they are closing a studio speaks to their desire to reevaluate something. Just because they are excited about something doesn't translate into a positive current state of the endeavor. Their IP creates a viable option for game development, but then you're talking about something that will not bare fruit for at least 3 to 4 years. If you recall Netflix was super excited about Qwikster and poured a ton of money into it. They constantly said is was going well until it wasn't. You can deduce multiple things from the article, your take on the article, the earnings call, your take on the earnings call, my take on all the aforementioned, however nowhere in the article or title is it said that Netflix is abandoning gaming, just that gaming "May" not be working out.
 
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Another company joins Apple in discovering it's not just a case of strong arming your way into gaming for the sake of making money. Fools...
 
Somebody uttered the word Netflix…quick, tell everybody how you cancelled your account long ago!


Anyways, goes to show that their gaming library wasn’t up to par to begin with.
 
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It could have worked, but they bungled it. It's actually a really good service - but it took a concerted effort for me to figure out how it worked and how to get access to the games, effort 99% of people won't bother with. They had a decent product, just didn't deliver it very well and I guess they decided it was too hard.

How many people with Phones and Netflix subscriptions actually realise you can play the full fat controller support versions of Hades, GTA 3, Vice City, SA, Dead Cells etc on their phone? I'm willing to bet not many.
 
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If they would just make the games available on Apple TV they would have a much better offering and thus engagement.

-R
This would likely be a big step forward. I don't get why they haven't done that so far. I would use it WAY more if that was the case.

Hopefully it changes soon, as it does seem that they are making progress for gaming on TVs. Unfortunately, Apples weird App Store rules might be in the way:
https://about.netflix.com/en/news/testing-games-on-more-devices
 
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Netflix shuts down studio.
Netflix starts talking about developing games.
Me puzzled..
 
Games aren't something you can offer in bulk like throwing coal into a furnace.

This may work for Netflix TV shows but to play random, undifferentiated games you already have plenty of F2P shovelware in app stores.

The same more or less applies to Apple Arcade.
 
I am actively angry at them offering games. I just don't want games inbetween shows. Why? If it would be a separate app or something I could understand, but not in the same place.
 
Not sure if you people tried those games on your phone but they're actually a pretty nice extra.
I've been hating iOS gaming for years now. It feels like very few companies try to make good games, the successful ones are those who make terrible stuff for kids with ads and/or microtransactions.
The ones that you just pay and play are often a worse version of a PC game that's rarely worth trying. Having a selection of those for free is nice for me.

...don't even try the desktop games. It mostly feels like the worst of old Flash games and modern Triple-A, with poor performance, bad dynamics and long cut scenes. It looks like they put a lot of effort but had the worst possible platform and tried to use it the wrong way. I would have enjoyed casual in-browser games, they desperately tried to make them serious and that just can't work.
 
There are some of us for whom our phones are our primary gaming devices and we only play premium titles. But its an ever shrinking segment of the market in the face of the F2P profits to be made.

Netflix and Apple have both done an admirable job of trying to breath some new life into the sector by bankrolling titles for a sub but it clearly hasn't worked. Are there really that many Android gamers playing Braid or Laya's Horizon? Are there really any players using an Apple TV as their TV console for continuation of play?

Why trust in a phone for Premium titles when a Nintendo Switch is still a much better option?
 
Exactly right. And until Apple Inc. changes their name, I can't think of anything but tree fruit. ;)
Haha, I know, right? I swore when they changed their name from Apple Computer inc, it was a clear signal they were diversifying into a greengrocers.

Boy was I wrong, I'm such a plum.

On topic though, I'm never playing Monument Valley on *ugh* Netflix.
 
I spotted a retro Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mobile game I really wanted to play once, but on installing and running I got hit by a login wall for Netflix... I was thinking what the heck has Netflix got to do with this?? I couldnt bypass without a Netflix account I didnt have and didnt want so I guess I'm uninstalling it and will never play....
 
I'm old and like my gaming with a keyboard, controller or mouse. Mobile gaming with all its pay to play to win nonsense is an awful experience
 
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I'm old and like my gaming with a keyboard, controller or mouse. Mobile gaming with all its pay to play to win nonsense is an awful experience
Oh I'm so with you there, modern gaming is awful. All I want to do is blast some aliens and blow off some steam... I dont want no 'loot boxes' I dont want 'achievements' I dont need a large sparkly banner congratulating me for completing the task of simply launching the game in the first place!
 
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Oh I'm so with you there, modern gaming is awful. All I want to do is blast some aliens and blow off some steam... I dont want no 'loot boxes' I dont want 'achievements' I dont need a large sparkly banner congratulating me for completing the task of simply launching the game in the first place!
Except millions do want achievements. Just because you want to sit around mindlessly blowing things up, most ppl want some sense of accomplishment for doing something. Kind of how the world works. As well as the social aspect many lack in their day to day lives. This isn’t 1990s super Mario.
Didn’t Netflix start out by also offering video game rental plans among with their dvds ? lol
I believe so because I used to rent games and they’d be all scratched up lol
 
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