Netflix taking "more strategic" approach as it ramps up dev partnerships

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Netflix has offered an update on its growing games offering, telling GamesIndustry.biz that it will be taking a "more strategic" approach going forward as it announced new developer partnerships.

In a briefing for selected press, the entertainment streaming giant announced a number of upcoming releases, including:

The company said there were 40 games due for release in 2023, adding to the 55 launched since November 2021.

In total, Netflix has 86 games in the works; 16 of which are handled by in-house studios, while another 70 are being developed by third-party partners.

A report in August 2022 suggested only 1% of Netflix's subscribers had downloaded any of its titles in the first nine months of its games offering. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the company's vice president for external games was unable to offer updated figures but said Netflix is "really proud of our progress so far."

"We’re still in the early days of our games journey, and the number of members who know about and play our games continues to grow," she said.

"At the beginning of our journey in November 2021, our focus was speed to market and creating opportunities for valuable learning. With those learnings we are now able to be more strategic around how we build out a portfolio of games that appeals to our millions of members."

A key focus going forward is improving the visibility of Netflix's games portfolio to subscribers. In this regard, games have been given a dedicated tab in the Android app and a dedicated row in the iOS app, with Netflix "continuing to test new discovery mechanisms both on and off the Netflix platform."

During a Q&A with press, Loombe was also