In recent years, Netflix had big ambitions for its burgeoning gaming arm, but there is such a thing as thinking too big. This is why the streaming giant has confirmed that it’s trimming back some of its gaming releases. Six of them.
One of the cancelled titles is from an internal Netflix studio with the other handful coming from external developers. The reason for the change is that the company is “adjusting [their] portfolio as [they] learn more about what [their] members like”.
Now not on Netflix
This is the same approach the company uses for the media it produces. It’s why you keep seeing Adam Sandler, Ryan Reynolds, Millie Bobby Brown, and Noah Centineo in original content produced by the streamer. If folks will, in this case, play specific titles, it makes sense to prioritise those.
The cancellations give us some idea of what Netflix Gaming patrons are not engaging with. Compass: Point West is a strategy title from Netflix’s internal studios. Don’t Starve Together is a co-op survival game with an odd(ish) perspective. Lab Rat is a top-down puzzle game that owes more than a little to Valve’s Portal. Rotwood is a brawler with RPG elements. Tales of the Shire is what is referred to as a ‘cozy’ game and it’s also the tamest title ever set in the Lord of the Rings universe. Finally, Thirsty Suitors is an RPG that owes a bunch to the Scott Pilgrim Evil Ex boss fight sequences.
You’ll notice that there isn’t a single action game on the list of cancelled titles. Most are slower-paced or highly niche in terms of target audience as well. Everything is playable elsewhere, though we don’t have high hopes for Tales of the Shire when it eventually releases at the end of March this year. Not a Nazgûl in sight and the ability to… skip? Sure.
The company intends to focus on higher-profile games in future, with 2K’s WWE games still on schedule to launch on Netflix Gaming. Other titles include kids’ games, co-op games that aren’t Don’t Starve, and narrative-focused games.
