Netflix Planning To Expand Into Cloud Gaming By Opening New Studio

Netflix has been eyeing cloud gaming for a very long time, and they recently bought a new studio situated in Southern California.

The streaming giant is looking to expand its main base of operations in California with the sole purpose of augmenting game development. During TechCrunch Disrupt, Netflix VP of games Mike Verdu revealed bits of information about the streaming company’s desire to enter the gaming fray.

'We're very seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering so that we can reach members on TVs and on PCs”, he said. 'We're going to approach this the same way we did with mobile, which is start small, be humble, be thoughtful, and then build out. But it is a step we think we should take to meet members where they are on the devices where they consume Netflix'.

“It’s a value add. We’re not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement,” he said on stage. “It’s a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are.”

Similarly, Google did the same thing just recently with the Stadia, but it proved to be a bigger flop than they expected, so they announced they would abandon the new console in January.

“While Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service,” Stadia Vice President and General Manager Phil Harrison wrote in a blog post.

When questioned on how Netflix could avoid the same fate of Google Stadia, which failed even with Google backing it and phenomenal streaming technology propelling it all, Verdu stated that gaming features are a 'value add' to its business strategy. 'We're not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement, so it's a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are,” he explained.

Netflix has long been a movie streaming service that never fails to entertain us, and we don't think their plans for cloud gaming will disappoint us much, especially since Chacko Sonny, a former 'Overwatch' executive producer, will command the new studio in California. Given the success of Overwatch and the recent release of Overwatch 2, it's safe to say that Netflix has this in the bag.