The fundamental obstacle to Netflix's games strategy is one of its own making
Is it just me, or does Netflix’s games offering feel like Spotify’s failed first foray into video? Data from Omdia and its research partners about the streaming video giant’s mobile games and interactive video titles presents a mixed picture.
Spotify introduced video to its platform in 2015, licensing shows from Comedy Central, Vice News, and others and commissioning original series. The move was the result of a secret pet project founder Daniel Ek had been nursing since 2011, according to the book Spotify Untold. Yet the company abandoned its video strategy less than two and a half years later in 2017.
Could the same fate could await Netflix’s games strategy?
When the games menu appeared on the app on my phone, I explored how the system worked and made a mental note to play the games one day. But when I do get round to that, I suspect I may just briefly dip in, never to return, just as I did with Spotify’s videos.
Clearly, Netflix has only just got started with games. Probably no one at the company would say today’s rudimentary offering matches its longer-term vision. And management has stressed that now is the time to “learn more about how [its] members value games,” with no mention of disrupting the market as some more excitable observers have hoped.
But Netflix’s fundamental assumptions seem remarkably like Spotify’s.
Like the music streamer with video, Netflix sees games as both a threat and an opportunity. In early 2019, the company told investors: “We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO.” In mid-2021, on announcing plans to begin offering games, the company said: “We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation, and unscripted TV.”
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