Netflix is pushing ahead with its plans to get involved in the gaming industry. This is in response to the mounting rivals in the video streaming world.
Netflix had already ventured into the mobile gaming market, but would now attempt to make forays on larger screens. The Verge reports:
Netflix is expanding its games streaming beta to the US, the company announced in an update to a blog post. The feature, which lets you play games streamed from the cloud on devices like your TV or a computer, launched first in August in Canada and the UK.
In the blog post, Netflix notes that it’s a “limited” beta test, so it seems like this won’t be available to too many people to start. (Netflix used that same “limited” language with the initial launch in Canada and the UK.) Like with the original test, the only two games available to stream are Oxenfree from Netflix’s own Night School Studio and another game titled Molehew’s Mining Adventure.
Cloud gaming is a variation on traditional video gaming. Rather than running the game using the devices’s own computing power, cloud gaming relies on distant servers to do the bulk of the work. The game itself is then streamed to a screen, whether a TV or phone. Android Police continues:
Netflix’s push into the cloud gaming industry was confirmed by Mike Verdu, the company’s VP of gaming, at a conference in 2022. At the same time, Netflix announced that it would be going as far as opening a gaming studio in California. Companies like Google and Amazon have seen limited success in the cloud gaming market thus far, but this hasn’t stopped Netflix. After initially launching a trial of its cloud gaming service in the UK and Canada, the company is now rolling out a trial in the US.
Netflix has debuted the new trial for US members at no additional cost, and you can now access its catalog of games through a smart TV or connected device (via TechCrunch). With a Roku or Chromecast, for instance, you can boot up a game and start playing, using your phone as a controller. Netflix’s free-to-play model differentiates it from some of its competitors, and games tied to existing series — “Love is Blind” and “Stranger Things,” just to name a couple — have already been rolled out by the streaming platform.
To continue to justify its rising prices, Netflix is attempting to become an all in 1 entertainment hub.
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