Netflix Considers Ways To Make Money From Videogames in Possible Pivot (wsj.com) 36
Netflix has said it plans to be in gaming for years to come. Now the company is trying to figure out how to make money from it, a potential shift in strategy for the streamer. From a report: Executives at the streaming giant have had discussions in recent months about how to generate revenue from its games, according to people familiar with the discussions. Netflix games are currently free for all subscribers, part of a strategy to keep users coming back to the streaming service when their favorite shows are between seasons as well as to attract new fans.
Some of the ideas that have been discussed include in-app purchases, charging for more sophisticated games it is developing or giving subscribers to its newer ad-supported tier access to games with ads in them, the people said. Such moves would mark a pivot for Netflix, which has resisted putting ads or in-app purchases in its games. [...] Netflix encourages open debate internally on its strategy, which is a key pillar of its culture, and such discussions don't mean the company will decide to monetize games.
Some of the ideas that have been discussed include in-app purchases, charging for more sophisticated games it is developing or giving subscribers to its newer ad-supported tier access to games with ads in them, the people said. Such moves would mark a pivot for Netflix, which has resisted putting ads or in-app purchases in its games. [...] Netflix encourages open debate internally on its strategy, which is a key pillar of its culture, and such discussions don't mean the company will decide to monetize games.
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What a class act.
Netflix selling you a product is a class act when compared to turning you into The Product.
Enlighten yourself a bit as to what you are these days when shitting on vendors.
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That is all they do, and all they ever have. Netflix delivers to us the work of others. They charge fees for this service. They often do pay others for their work, so that Netflix can deliver it to us, and they often charge more to deliver it than they pay to be permitted to do so.
You don't understand that? And that Netflix profits from this is the only reason or them to do any of this.
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Whoosh.
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I am also a victim of "whoosh." What's the joke here?
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I am also a victim of "whoosh."
I think they have a church support group now.
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Well, for one thing, leeches aren't funny.
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Every single business essentially had found a way to make money off of someone else. This is nothing new.
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Thank you, Captain Obvious. What would we do without your impeccable insight?
just make the games be an monthly add on (Score:2)
just make the games be an monthly add on
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Most of the games they currently offer are promotional tie-ins with Stranger Things, and a few other decently fun originals (Poimpy, is cute and fun, for instance) But they don't yet have the library to offer something people would pay an upcharge for; not when Apple Arcade and GamePass are offering a solid value.
The basic concept behind this story leaves me scratching my head, until I remember it's Netflix. We left Netflix after the last price hike, but at the time the games section seemed kinda light. And the execs are now looking for a way to monetize something that's only half appealing already. Monetize it and make it completely unappealing? NETFLIX PERFECT!
This need to monetize things, over already price-hiking the base subscription, will backfire. We don't need another micro-transaction platform. Most of us a
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Either an add-on or give it a configuration option. The video game bar is excess to my needs. I'd like to hide it.
console? (Score:2)
Seems like the Netflix infrastructure is all designed around streaming and less around processing. If they are not giving you processing on their infrastructure and you just have a display at home, the options for intense games are limited. Will we see a Netflix console in a couple of years? A Netflix app store for some other consoles?
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That's one hell of an ambitious plan if they plan on creating their own console.
I think it's far more likely they'll focus on PC initially as that's easiest and then see if they can find a way to break into consoles.
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I think video games are a good move by Netflix. Other companies have tried streaming games, like Stadia, but have done it with games that are made to be run locally. And there's just no way to compensate for the latency. Even the menus feel sluggish in this scenario when they're designed in the standard way. But if the game is made specifically for this purpose, then it can be designed around that problem.
Netflix does need a
Separate business needed (Score:2)
Games on Netflix are just a massive annoyance. They should isolate games into a separate platform where users would go purposely with an intent to play games and they should stop annoying others who are on their platforms just for streaming.
Re:Separate business needed (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe it's like Amazon Prime. I would balk at paying what Prime charges just for shipping, but when they throw in a streaming service that I rarely use, a music service that I rarely use, photo storage that I rarely use, and free PC games that I add to my backlog, the value looks a lot better.
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Everybody always forgets the ability to download a free book a month. Sometimes two. They might not be ones I would pick on my own, but I can usually find at least one of the selection that makes a good read. 12-14 free books a year is worth something as well, even if they are electronic so don't cost Amazon much to deliver either.
I guess nobody reads anymore. I tried to hit a book a day, just to see if I could do it, but maxed out at 355 books sufficiently good to rate in 2023. I doubt I'll try that again
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Are they? I've never noticed any of their current games shown to me even once. I've been under the assumption that they did in fact have some sort of separate section for games that I had just never bothered to look for.
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I think they're trying to find a way to leverage their CDN in other ways to bring people to the streaming platform as a whole. Breaking it up into services would defeat the purpose. They want people to find more value in what they provide so they can charge a price at that value.
The strategy is increase the value of that platform, without investing heavily in in-shop productions. If they can release a box with good controllers and low latency, they would have an ideal game streaming service. Maybe THE game
How It Might Go (Score:2)
there are places that do not allow billing like th (Score:2)
there are places that do not allow billing like that!
"charging for more sophisticated game" (Score:2)
Can only imagine the 300K/yr MBA major who got claps in the boardroom for that
"New concept: we develop a video game, actually try to make it good ok? Imagine giving our customers something they enjoy. Here's the kicker; we charge them money to purchase it."
"Jones, you're a goddamn genius!"
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I think the problem may be they overinvested and have dark fiber, and are looking for other ways to fill it.
I'm not sure they're interested in being a gaming company. They're interested, I believe, in producing a tech demo to show actual game pubs that their platform works really well, with low latency and superior value. Also to test how far they can push the CDN and still have a game be playable.
So testing and tech demo is my guess. If they make some money off of it, it's probably cheaper than spamming Or
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No, i get *why* they want to leverage gaming for money
But games have been around commercially for 40 years
They've been bigger than the movie and music business for 15+ years already. It's well known the different ways to monetize video games but it's funny that the orignal method of "create game and sell it" it's almost looked upon as cutting edge as opposed to F2P
Netflix has games? (Score:3)
Never even heard of it or seen it.
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Never even heard of it or seen it.
They're mobile games only available on the phone app, I've seen them promoted fairly prominently there (but not on computer or smart TV).
I tried one for about 10 min and then got bored, but the production quality seemed decent for a phone game.
It seems kinda backwards to me, on a computer / smart TV they're now a sort of a low-end subscription competitor to Steam and/or the consoles, which is a pretty big market. Though there may be technical reasons for their current approach.
I like the fact that (Score:1)
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Sorry, no time for sustainable growth or creating a long lasting brand.
Explosive growth or the investors get pissy.
They could pull a page from the 90's (Score:2)
And license their IPs to game development or even commision a game or two.
I can see it now (Score:2)
You're running down the corridor, grenade in hand. You dart left around the corner, turn about, pull the pin, raise your arm to throw . . .
The world around you comes to a halt. The view of the corridor fades to an eighteen percent gray background.
"Does your throwing arm gets numb from throwing grenades all day? Rub a little thorazine forty-five on your arm and make that numbing go away. Guaranteed to make your throwing arm feel young again so you can frag all day."
The gray background fades away, returning
Go forth, and monetize away (Score:2)
Don't do it... (Score:2)
I already dropped prime, mostly for their behavior. I don't order enough that the shipping charges would bother me, and encouraging behaviors like putting more fking ads on anything I might use was enough for me to say goodbye.
You gunna find out.