Netflix announces plans to dabble into mobile gaming as part of its subscription service

Gaming subscription services will soon have one more competitor to worry about in the form of entertainment giant Netflix - it’s apparently dabbling into mobile games in the not-too-distant future. Its gaming expansion will begin with mobile, and the subscription will come at no cost to those who are already part of Netflix’s subscription service.

The company just recently hired Mike Verdu, former EA and Oculus veteran, to explore and spearhead Netflix’s gaming ventures. From the company’s letter to investors, it seems like it’ll first dip its toes in existing IPs such as Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Stranger Things.

“We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation, and unscripted TV,” the letter says. “We’re excited as ever about our movies and TV series offering and we expect a long runway of increasing investment and growth across all of our existing content categories, but since we are nearly a decade into our push into original programming, we think the time is right to learn more about how our members value games.”

If you’re thinking that the streaming service has no business grabbing a piece of the pie when it comes to mobile gaming, it actually makes sense when you see a user’s time as the coveted commodity for entertainment media. Netflix apparently competes more with games than with, say, HBO when it comes to grabbing people’s attention. “The reason we’re doing them is to help the subscription service grow and be more important in people’s lives,” says Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings in a discussion yesterday.

Personally, I watch Netflix from my PlayStation console, so if it’s going to offer me mobile games in that same space, then why the heck not?

If you’re eager for more games you can enjoy on a subscription service, have a look at our list of the top 10 best Apple Arcade games!