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For two years, Netflix subscribers were able to download tons of mobile games, all of which were included for free in the subscription price. Netflix has developed more than 75 mobile games, boasting popular IPs such as Grand Theft Auto, Love is Blind, Monument Valley, and Oxenfree, among others.
Now, a recent report suggests that Netflix may be looking for ways to generate revenue from its gaming business.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in recent months the company has been changing the ways it makes money from its games, including in-app purchases, putting price tags on more premium titles, and placing ads in games held by subscribers to advertising inventory. There have been discussions about it. Access to. These methods are common (and effective) in the world of mobile games, where consumers are expected to spend $111.4 billion on mobile games in 2024.
Netflix declined to comment to TechCrunch.
The company may decide to pivot away from monetizing its games, as discussions don’t always lead to action. Netflix appears to have scrapped its advertising and in-game payment initiatives during its April 2023 earnings call.
“We want to deliver a differentiated gaming experience, and part of that is helping game creators focus on pure player enjoyment without worrying about other forms of monetization, whether it’s advertising or in-game. “It’s about being able to think about building games in terms of perspective,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters told investors.
However, plans change. After all, Netflix, which initially resisted launching ad-supported tiers and cracking down on password sharing, ended up losing thousands of subscribers in 2022, its first subscriber decline in more than a decade. The decision was subsequently withdrawn.
Additionally, the streamer saw its growth stall in early 2023 and laid off 3% of its employees as a result, so a move to monetize its games would make sense for the streamer. Netflix also recently increased its prices again, bringing the monthly cost of its premium plan for new customers in the US to $22.99.
Netflix also posted a job opening for a game director working on AAA PC games in 2022, which can be a pretty expensive project in the video game industry. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reported that the development budget for a AAA game he could be more than $200 million. Netflix is ​​in talks to charge money for future big-budget games, WSJ reports, with analysts determining that Netflix has spent about $1 billion acquiring game studios and investing in its overall gaming business. He added that there is.