Arab News

LONDON: Recent reports indicate that Netflix is approaching senior executives in the video game industry about partnering up with the platform to create a subscription-based game service. 

In the past, Netflix has licensed some of its in-house productions, including “Stranger Things” and “The Dark Crystal,” to game developers. 

Netflix has also produced a wide range of interactive movies, including “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend,”  both of which employed simple game mechanics to allow the viewer to make certain choices about the narratives.

A Netflix gaming subscription will reportedly be similar to Apple’s gaming service, Apple Arcade, which is exclusive to Apple’s iPhones, iPads, Macs and AppleTV. Users pay a monthly fee of $4.99 for access to a library of downloadable games.

Netflix’s move comes amidst a dramatic slowdown in its number of subscribers, following record growth during the pandemic. In 2020, Netflix added 36 million new subscribers taking the company to more than 200 million subscribers worldwide. 

However, in the first three months of 2021, Netflix added fewer than 4 million subscribers globally.