Netflix ventures into video games, hires former Oculus and EA developer

OTT streaming giant Netflix Inc. is reportedly planning to offer games on its platforms at no additional costs. The company has tapped Mike Verdu, a former Oculus and EA game development leader, to spearhead its games division.

Verdu will join as the Vice President of game development and will report to Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters. Previously, he had also served as Facebook's VP of augmented reality and virtual reality content.

For a while, Netflix has been experimenting with video games with titles such as the 3% Challenge and the Stranger Things game. Likewise, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch had also offered a game-like experience considering it is an interactive TV show in which the audience could make plot choices that influenced the story's conclusion.

These were only the first steps into the realm of games. Verdu, on the other hand, is known to be a serious game leader who has previously worked on developing complete game portfolios for businesses.

Netflix’s paid subscribers worldwide climbed from 204 million last quarter to 208 million at present, and the latest announcement could be its most audacious move yet. The company is looking at approaches to fuel its growth, particularly in saturated markets like the United States.

Industry experts believe that the move could also allow the streaming giant to justify the surge in its price in the upcoming months.

Exploring the gaming market, Google established a studio to develop games for its Stadia cloud gaming service and then closed the internal game studio which was led by Jade Raymond. Similarly, Amazon also had mixed outcomes with games such as Crucible and decided to make its Lumberyard game engine open source.

Facebook owns the VR company Oculus, which is now testing cloud gaming and marketing services for game streamers. Meanwhile, Apple is developing augmented reality and virtual reality technology.

Source Credit –

https://venturebeat.com/2021/07/14/netflix-hires-oculus-and-ea-veteran-mike-verdu-to-lead-games/