Netflix goes official: streaming video games starting in 2022

After a series of rumors and hires focused on gaming, Netflix has formalized its debut in the video game sector. The platform has in fact launched, for now only in Poland, an integration to the on-demand streaming service within the Android app.

The Giant has confirmed its intention to expand into the world of gaming during a July’s meeting with investors, stating that starting from 2022 it will start the production of games (presumably originals) that can be used at no additional cost by all subscribers to the service.

Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have dominated the gaming market for decades, but in recent years cloud gaming has begun to appeal to more and more players, and Netflix certainly has the finances and ambitions to establish itself in this sector as well. The streaming giant, however, does not seem willing to immediately push on the accelerator, but rather to focus on the same slow and constant growth that has led it to become a leader in the film and TV series sector.

“We see the world of video games as a new category in which we could expand,” Netflix said in the last letter to investors, “and for this we intend to follow an expansion path similar to that adopted with movies, animation and TV series. [...] We are very satisfied with our range of offers for original films and series, but after ten years of continuous growth, we believe the time has come to understand how much our members are interested in video games”. In the letter, the streaming giant also confirms that initially the video games produced will be mainly for mobile devices, and that some could be linked to the big Netflix IPs (Stranger Things, Black Mirror etc.).