Netflix on Tuesday confirmed that it will be rolling out a gaming offering to its subscribers. The streamer plans on concentrating on games designed for mobile devices.
During the company’s second-quarter earnings report (via CNET), Netflix said that gaming is “another new content category,” similar to its expansion into original films, animation, and unscripted TV.
The games will be provided for free to paying subscribers.
We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV. Games will be included in members’ Netflix subscription at no additional cost similar to films and series. Initially, we’ll be primarily focused on games for mobile devices. We’re excited as ever about our movies and TV series offering and we expect a long runway of increasing investment and growth across all of our existing content categories, but since we are nearly a decade into our push into original programming, we think the time is right to learn more about how our members value games.
Netflix will be competing directly with Apple’s $4.99 per month “Apple Arcade” service that provides access to hundreds of ad-free games on users’ iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV devices.
Netflix did not announce a firm date for the rollout of the new gaming service, and also did not offer any details as to how the games will be distributed.