Netflix is Starting… Another Gaming Studio
Remember how Netflix has games? No, you don’t? It’s alright. Neither does anyone else. But that might be starting to change.
Netflix has announced it will be starting an “internal games studio”. This is somewhat of a surprise considering Netflix does already have some games.
The Netflix games library is mostly your run-of-the-mill mobile games. But they do have some decent titles like Into The Breach, the popular not-sequel to FTL. They also have other games with interesting thumbnails at least. And you may remember their interactive episode of Black Mirror, Bandersnatch, which was fun. That was game-like.
But with this new Netflix Games studio, they will be making games with four separate studios, Next Games, Night School Studio, Boss Fight Entertainment, and their new studio. Each of these studios will have “different strengths and focus areas will develop games that will suit the diverse tastes of our members.” They also note the games will be ad-free with no in-app purchases.
The new studio is to be led by Lastikka Marko, who was co-founder, VP, and General Manager of Zynga. He was also General Manager and Executive Producer at Electronic Arts. So, he’s got tons of experience. Considering Netflix games are mobile-focused, Marko’s experience at Zynga will be very useful.
Zynga is a huge mobile game studio, with titles like FarmVille, Words With Friends, and Merge Dragons. Turn up your nose all you want, they are popular games.
Color me skeptical but willing. Netflix has been having some rocky days lately and is starting to develop a sour reputation regarding its penchant for cancellation. Still, with four separate studios and an experienced leader at the helm, this could be fairly decent.
But worth pointing out, Amazon has a very similar system in place. Subscribe to Amazon Prime and get free games every month. Admittedly the titles are often third-party, but the ones developed by Amazon are never very great. Maybe this time will be different.
