We all knew this was coming, but it’s nice to see some tangible evidence of a tech company doing what the rumour mill churned out months before. Netflix has now officially acquired Night School Studio — the gaming studio that developed Oxenfree. In addition, it’s begun rolling out its gaming offering in Europe.
About a month ago, the streaming service started testing its new feature in Poland, where Netflix subscribers started gaining access to games through their subscriptions. The trial included two mobile games: Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3.
Not Netflieks anymore
“Like our shows and films, these games will all be included as part of your Netflix membership — all with no ads and no in-app purchases,” the company says in a statement.
Which is good to hear. We previously raised our concerns about Netflix using its gaming offering as the perfect platform to push ads on its users. What it’s effectively doing here, however, is adding some value for those of its subscribers that may be interested in gaming. Best case scenario? It gains subscribers that are mainly interested in its gaming content. But that’s not for a while yet.
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This is Netflix’s way of expanding its portfolio. In the original Reuters report, it cites this expansion as being motivated by the increase in players in the streaming space. So Netflix is making its product more valuable for the same price to more effectively compete with competitors like Disney+, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video? Sure.
We’ll still take one of each, thanks.