Netflix’s Unique Strategy to Build Gaming Platform: ‘All About Learning’
By Movieguide® Contributor
“Oxenfree II: Lost Signals” and “The Queen’s Gambit Chess” reveal that Netflix is still unsure about its gaming platform two years after its initial launch, but they want to keep developers at the center.
After a slow start, Netflix acquired Night School, the makers of supernatural indie hit Oxenfree, signaling to their audience that they wanted to deliver a library of high-quality games.
This formula has been a major part of the first stage of Netflix’s game development. They acquire the rights to already popular games to entice users to explore their gaming service. However, until recently, these studios had developed few games after beginning their partnership with Netflix.
Night School’s sequel to “Oxenfree,” “Oxenfree II: Lost Signals,” reveals where the gaming platform is headed.
“Oxenfree II” was released to critical acclaim, something game director Bryant Cannon believes is due to the company’s partnership with Netflix.
“I think we were around 15 people when we got acquired,” Cannon said. “The “Oxenfree II” team is now about 25-30 or so. So we have the people now to put towards making that game as good as it can be.”
“We also were able to localize the game into 30 languages, which is insane for a game of our size with about 200,000 words or something like that,” he added.
The thing that Cannon is most thankful for, however, is that Netflix has allowed Night School to maintain autonomy.
“From a creative perspective, we have been able to maintain our creative independence, which is personally what I care most about,” Cannon said.
Rather than seeking to govern the creation of their games, Netflix understands that they are new to the gaming field and look to learn from the teams they have acquired.
“They’re really leaning on us and the studios that they’ve acquired to work with them to figure out how we want to forge ahead in this cool new space of streaming games,” said Adam Hines, the lead writer for “Oxenfree II.”
The creators of another Netflix game, Ripstone Games, have had a similar experience.
The U.K.-based developers started their partnership with Netflix in 2020 – before Netflix even publicly announced their gaming service. Ripstone Games approached Netflix in October of that year, hoping simply for a licensing deal. They wanted to create a QUEEN’S GAMBIT-associated chess game to capitalize on the explosive popularity of the game.
“Before I pitched, I asked the question that kind of changed everything,” said Jamie Brayshaw, the head of marketing and business development at Ripstone. “I said, ‘A lot of people are throwing around the label of the Netflix of games.’ So I asked absolutely cheekily, ‘Could Netflix be the Netflix of games?’ And I was shocked by the response.”
Netflix shared that they had plans to create a gaming distribution service through their platform.
Echoing the experience of Night School, Ripstone has been impressed by Netflix’s desire to learn rather than govern over their acquired developers.
“The unique thing about partnering with Netflix is that they’re all about learning,” Brayshaw said.
“They showed a lot of trust and love and support for us as a partner because they know that we understand chess, and they want to empower us to achieve our creative vision,” he continued.
Netflix is not only hands-off in the development phase, but they also allow their developers to create the games they want to, rather than forcing projects upon them.
While Netflix’s relationship with developers is strong, they have trouble connecting with their audience. The company has been secretive about the popularity of its platform, but one report from 2022 suggests that as little as one percent of its audience has tried out the gaming service.
Netflix is still trying to understand what drives audiences to games and how they can raise their user numbers. However, their plan is still to create the best games possible and draw in users through high quality.
“They’re very honest with themselves and with us about this, not knowing what the best course of action is yet,” Hines said. “They just really want to put some stuff out there and see how fans and their audience respond and make adjustments based on that.”
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Netflix also plans to continue development within its gaming studio, a Netflix feature that is unknown by many subscribers to the platform. The site releases games onto the App Store and Google Play Store that are free for Netflix subscribers.
“Ten years from now, people are going to spend a bunch of time watching movies, TV shows and playing games – I don’t know in what order, but I’m pretty confident they’re gonna be doing all three of those things,” Sarandos said. “When we looked at the game business, it seems to have a lot in common with what we’re doing now – world-building, storytelling and technology. For us, it seemed like a natural thing to build competence in.”
Another avenue for Netflix to continue its success would come from creating and promoting uplifting and moral content. Positive content is currently drawing in the largest audience, yet many entertainment companies are only just starting to focus on this type of content.
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