The worst possible news came out of Netflix this week, as the company announced another round of price hikes for all the Netflix plans. The company is doing it to support its content investments. That’s even though the giant streaming service announced it added nearly 19 million new subscribers in Q4, for a total of 301.63 million paying customers.
During the December 2024 quarter earnings call, Netflix addressed its gaming interests, teasing bigger plans than simply bringing original and licensed video games to subscribers. The company has figured out other ways to keep you glued to your TV on Netflix that involve cloud streaming games.
Netflix will add party and couch co-op games to its lineup, co-CEO Greg Peters said during the Q&A session of the earnings call. This will be the “successor to family board game night,” the exec teased.
“We’ll also be introducing party and couch co-op games on TV delivered from the cloud,” Peters said. “We think of this as a successor to family board game night or an evolution of what the game show on TV used to be. So we’re excited about delivering some cool experiences in that space.”
As a board game fan, I’ll say that sounds somewhat exciting, but I’ll temper expectations until I see some actual plans from Netflix. Peters did not say what sort of co-op or party games the streaming service will offer or how it should work. I’d still favor a traditional board game over anything a TV might offer.
Then again, the strategy makes sense for Netflix. With every price hike, Netflix is giving some users the perfect excuse to ditch the streaming service. After all, not all Netflix originals are hits, and the movie department is still putting out disappointing projects.
To save money, some Netflix customers might always unsubscribe and rejoin the service once some of their favorite Netflix originals get new seasons. Some people might also consider live sports when deciding.
But if customers or family members are also passionate about games, Netflix’s growing interest in all sorts of gaming content might keep them subscribed to the service for longer periods. They might not stay for TV board game right or party games, but Netflix also hosts regular video games, including original and licensed content.
Peters said the company will continue to create games based on its own IP, with Squid Game: Unleashed being a recent success for Netflix. “We really think [the game] validates our Netflix game formula, which is enabling this virtuous cycle between linear content and simultaneous game offerings,” the co-CEO said.
Peters also highlighted the success of GTA, saying Netflix wants to do “more recognizable mainstream titles,” including “more of those big licensed titles to come.” Like the co-op couch games, it’s unclear what third-party games Netflix plans to make available to paying customers.
Finally, the exec noted that Netflix will create games for kids without ads or in-app payments.
Netflix is clearly looking to cash in on the popularity of video games of any kind here. Peters said so during his remarks.
“There’s plenty more to do in this space, but we’re breaking into a whole new content category, which, by the way, drives approximately $140 billion in consumer spend ex-China, ex-Russia and not even including the ad revenue,” the exec noted. “So we’re iteratively showing our members that we are a place to discover and play games, and we look forward to continuing to launch bigger and bigger games every year.”
