Can Netflix Challenge the Dominance of PlayStation and Xbox?

Many of you surely know that Netflix has entered the gaming scene. The platform is growing stronger day by day with almost 250 million paid users. While they have not entered the scene with a bang, they are steadily growing into it, making their presence known. Netflix is known for the way it disrupted the market and changed the landscape of television and movies. With their interest in gaming, it will be interesting to see what plans they have in store.

With the growing influence of Netflix in gaming, backed by strong financial support from streaming revenue, many questions start to arise. And the biggest one among them – Is Netflix capable of competing with the ‘Big Three’ of gaming? Or do they need to work more?

The uncanny success of Netflix in the gaming world

Gaming and Netflix are not two words you would usually use together. But in November 2021, the streaming platform quietly joined the gaming world. They have since kept their progress on the down-low. Mike Verdu, the head of Netflix Gaming, believes in working low-key. “Netflix doesn’t make a lot of big bets,” he said. “The company’s been patient around those bets and put the work in to get it right.”

But in these two years, the streaming platform has been working tirelessly to expand its hold in the gaming world. They have built two game studios and purchased four others. Surprisingly, all of their gaming studios were unaffected by the recent wave of layoffs in the gaming industry. They have more than 10 games in development in-house and, through deals with external teams, a total of 90. However, these little victories alone are not enough to take on the ‘Big Three’.

A study done by Apptopia reveals almost 99% of the service’s users have never touched a single video game on the platform. This means a mere population of 2.5 million is playing games via Netflix. Furthermore, the streaming platform makes games for the biggest platform for gaming, smartphones. There are over 3 billion mobile gamers, and the streaming service has only made a small dent in this number.

How can the streaming service surpass the ‘Big Three’ of gaming?

But Netflix has something in abundance that PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo lack. And that is a list of IPs. According to Ampere’s SVoD tracking data, there are over 3700 original movies and TV shows within the Netflix US library alone. This means the streaming platform can pick any one of its hit shows or movies and transform it into a game.

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They have already created games like Love is Blind and Too Hot to Handle from their shows, with a Squid Game video game arriving soon. Converting their IPs to games has given moderate success to Netflix. However, the streaming platform has also started making deals with prominent gaming studios. In December 2023, the service released GTA Trilogy for its users. This release was well-received by the community and the number of gaming users is bound to increase.

Building upon this success, Netflix has announced that its new Los Angeles studio is making a AAA game. Furthermore, reports point out that they are testing streaming games to subscribers’ TVs and PCs. Players can use their mobile app to turn their smartphone into a game controller to play on their PC and TV. In their limited beta, the service tested games on TV including Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku Devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, Xfinity 4K devices, and Xumo devices.

The final verdict – Will Netflix surpass the ‘Big Three’?

Mike Verdu said the streaming feature on TVs may take some time to deploy. “The results are encouraging, but it’s on a very small scale and it’s going to be a while before you see that deployed much more widely,” he said. Reports also claim they are using algorithms to offer personalized gaming recommendations to users.

All these steps taken by Netflix show they are on the right track to challenge the throne of the ‘Big Three’. They are taking small but steady steps toward the top while keeping a keen eye on the competition. A plus point for the service is that they have jumped earlier than the big three in the mobile gaming world. Xbox and PlayStation are actively trying to enter the mobile gaming sector.

But currently, Netflix is nowhere near the ‘Big Three’. It has to still build up its user base and prove itself with every release. A big portion of their future success also lies in the AAA game they are developing for PC. It can be a make-or-break situation for the streaming service.

When the streaming platform is ready to offer gaming on all major platforms without any friction, at that moment they would pose a threat to the rule of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. But till then, they are one of the contenders in the gaming world with substantial financial backing.

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