Netflix Responds To Microsoft’s PlannedAcquisition Of Activision Blizzard, Teases “Core” Game Releases In 2022

Executives from Netflix have responded to Microsoft’s recent announcement of a proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard, saying Microsoft’s move is an endorsement that subscription-based models are powerful. Microsoft, of course, has Game Pass, which now has 25 million subscribers and is poised to grow much bigger still in the years ahead, presumably.

“It was exciting to see the activity in the space,” Netflix COO and chief product officer Greg Peters said during the company’s latest earnings briefing. “And I think to some degree, it’s an endorsement of the core thesis that we have around subscription being a great model to connect consumers around the world with games and game experiences.”

Netflix is currently involved in the mobile game space, and Peters said fans can expect to see Netflix do more in this space when it comes to licensing. “We’re open to licensing, accessing large game IP that people will recognize. And I think you’ll see some of that happen over the year to come,” Peters said.

In its earnings release, Netflix said fans can expect the company to release more games in the “casual and core gaming genres” in 2022 as the company build out a portfolio of games that subscribers like the best.

Peters went on to tease that Netflix will look to make “interactive experiences” instead of just licensed games. “But we also see back to test like building out a whole cloth and the ability to take the franchises or the big titles, let’s call it, that we are excited about and actually develop interactive experiences that are connected to those. We see a huge long-term multiyear opportunity in that, too,” Peters said.

“We’re going to be experimental and try a bunch of things. But I would say the eyes that we have on the long-term prize really center more around our ability to create properties that are connected to the universes, the characters, the stories that we’re building in other places and sort of magnify that value for the fans of those stories.”

Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, said on the call that the company is experimenting with the games space right now. “We’re definitely crawl, walk, run and like let’s nail the thing and not just be in it for the sake of being in it or for a press release, but we got to please our members by having the absolute best in the category,” he said.

Peters reminded everyone that it’s “still very early days” in terms of what Netflix is trying to achieve with games. The early results from Netflix Games have been positive–Peters mentioned “a growing number of monthly users, daily active users…” But the wider goal is to go much bigger, which is part of the reason why Netflix acquired Oxenfree studio Night School.

“But really, as we’re doing this, we’ve been building in parallel what I’m super excited about it which is the sort of internal development capacity, our own game studio. We’ve been hiring some incredible talent that brings a set of experience to this process,” Peters said.

In other news, Netflix just announced plans to make a new Wallace & Gromit movie and a sequel to Chicken Run featuring the voice of The Last of Us’ Bella Ramsey.