The man in charge of Netflix’s push into video games has said that he doesn’t believe console-style games are the future.
Netflix has made a muted push into the video game space for some years, hiring experienced talent and forwarding video games playable in the Netflix app to its millions of users. So far, these experiences have been mostly smaller, mobile-style titles rather than console-style blockbusters.
Now, speaking to The Game Business, president of games at Netflix Alain Tascan says he doesn’t think the current model of console games is the future for the industry.
“[When it comes to] console, we started to look at the future where the platform is agnostic,” he said. “Look at the younger generation. Are eight year-olds and ten year-olds dreaming of owning a PlayStation 6? I am not sure.
“They are wanting to interact with any digital screen, whatever it is, wherever it is, even in the car. With console, you’re thinking about high definition, you’re thinking about the controller […] If we look at this older model, I think it will restrain us.”
In October, Netflix shut down its triple-A studio, known as Team Blue, after spending the past couple of years acquiring a number of veteran developers to join it. These included former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny, Halo veteran Joseph Staten, and former Sony Santa Monica art director Raf Grassetti. All three reportedly left Netflix after the studio was closed down.
The following month it then removed almost all of its interactive specials, which played out like branching stories with players making decisions to progress the story in various directions. Twenty of its 24 interactive specials were removed by December 1.
Last month, it was reported that Netflix had also laid off multiple staff at Night School Studio, the development team best known for the Oxenfree games. Night School Studio was acquired by Netflix back in 2021, becoming the first game developer to be acquired by the streaming company.
Despite these actions, Netflix still appears to be committed to including games as part of its service. In December 2024 it released mobile title Squid Game: Unleashed, and it recently announced plans to bring the WWE 2K series to mobile as a Netflix exclusive.
