Netflix Eyes Billion-Dollar Gaming Business

Netflix has teased the idea of entering the video game market, and for good reason: It has the potential to add to its subscriber base by attracting the interest of the 3.24 billion gamers worldwide. 

“We do want to expand,” said Netflix founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings. “We’ve got a lot to do in terms of different types of entertainment.”

The news came during a company earnings call on Tuesday as the streaming giant looks to add to its portfolio of entertainment offerings.

“There’s no doubt that games are going to be an important form of entertainment and important modality to deepen that fan experience, so we’re going to keep going,” said Greg Peters, the COO and chief product officer at Netflix. 

Following its latest earnings report, Netflix may have a sense of urgency in establishing itself in the $160 billion video game market. Despite year-over-year revenue growth of 24%, Netflix added only 3.98 million subscribers versus an expectation of 6.2 million for Q1 2021, according to Factset. 

The company says it didn’t meet expectations due to the pandemic and expects to add just 1 million new subscribers in Q2 2021.

Netflix is reportedly wary of entering a market that is dominated by longtime industry leaders Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Amazon Game Studios has been unable to make any headway into gaming, despite spending $500 million annually on myriad gaming projects since 2014.