Netflix is considering a push into cloud gaming

Netflix has been building up its own games business for a year now. The company has acquired and started up new game studios, and brought a selection of titles to its streaming service. In the future, Netflix may venture further with a cloud gaming offering, taking lessons from Google's issues with getting Stadia off the ground. 

This week at TechCrunch Disrupt, Netflix VP of Gaming, Mike Verdu, spoke on the subject of cloud gaming and growing Netflix's gaming content offerings. According to Verdu, cloud gaming should be treated as a “value add” and not as a “console replacement”, with the hope that over time, it becomes a natural part of how people play games on a day-to-day basis.

Verdu has taken note of Google's struggles with Stadia, saying that while the service may have been successful on the technical side, it had big issues with its business model. With that in mind, we can expect that any Netflix cloud gaming offering would not ask you to buy full-priced games. Instead, we would see a continuation of Netflix's subscription model.

It is worth noting though that Netflix has begun having some business model issues of its own. A drought in ‘must see' content and consistent subscription price rises pushed away a million subscribers earlier this year. Acquiring games for a content library is expensive, and such ventures could drive up subscription prices further. This in turn can slow growth and lead to subscriber loss.

KitGuru Says: Do you think a Netflix cloud gaming option would be successful? 

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