Making a Monument Valley for the Netflix generation

gamesindustry.biz:

Monument Valley 3 is releasing today, ten years after the series debuted, and a mirror of developer Ustwo Games' evolution during that time.

Having dabbled in DLC, subscriptions services, and games championing communities and the natural world, Ustwo seems to have taken these experiences and poured them into the highly awaited third opus of its star franchise.

Monument Valley 3 introduces new characters and mechanics (like sailing), a larger world, and a brand new standalone story, but it also introduces a live service approach, with Ustwo looking to release new content with every real-life season. In between these big chapters, the developer will also regularly release new activities and puzzles. All of this will take place exclusively on Netflix, with the company's games branch acting as the mobile title's publisher.

For some people, this step into live service may seem surprising coming from Ustwo, but it's a natural evolution from what it's been doing for the past decade.

Both Monument Valley 1 and 2 had DLC, 2019's Assemble with Care was a pioneer of subscription services as an (initially) Apple Arcade exclusive, and 2022's Desta: The Memories Between was already a Netflix title.

"At Ustwo, most of [our] games have been about respecting players' time – these smaller experiences that are meaningful, things that you remember outside of that," Monument Valley 3 director Jennifer Estaris tells GamesIndustry.biz.

"But for Monument Valley, [we've] always done downloadable content. It's just less rhythmic, less predictable, when they come out. And so for me, it was about: how do we make that a healthy habit for players, where they can know that something is coming and they get excited about it? But also tied to the themes of the game about caring for the world, not just being a one-and-done experience."

Estaris says that Ustwo wants to be very conscious about managing players' time, and is experimenting on the right way to deliver these content updates so it feels