When it comes to video games, Netflix wants users to “crawl, walk, run.” It continues to crawl.

Greg Peters, co-CEO of Netflix, stated that the company is approaching its less well-known foray into gaming with a “crawl, walk, run” strategy.
Despite the fact that the selection has more than tripled in the past year, less than 1% of all Netflix members regularly play a game on the service.
With ambitions to turn more popular programs into video games and discussions about creating a Grand Theft Auto version, Netflix is stepping up its efforts.

Almost two years have passed since Netflix first revealed its plans to enter the gaming industry. Yet, as Netflix has more than tripled its gaming catalog from 24 to 77 games in the previous year, users have generally shrugged their shoulders.

But according to Netflix, this is all part of the plan.

During the company’s prepared results call on Wednesday, co-CEO Greg Peters stated, “This trajectory is not dissimilar from what we’ve seen before.” We have to “crawl, walk, run, but we see a tremendous amount of opportunity to build a long-term center value of entertainment” whenever we debut a new region or new genres, like unscripted.

In order to counteract a potentially overcrowded subscriber environment, Netflix is attempting to sow the seeds for future revenue streams through its foray into gaming. Sports and shopping are two more, both of which are still in their infancy.

Insider Intelligence analyst Ross Benes stated, “The more potential revenue streams [Netflix] throws out there, the more things they can hang their hat on during an earnings call in the future when password sharing has run its course and they’re not adding new subscribers.”

In 2021, Netflix declared that it would start releasing games as standalone apps for smartphones. According to Netflix, the purpose of games is to keep viewers interested in between seasons of their favorite series. One example of this is “Stranger Things,” which has been turned into two video games.

The business has added a number of well-known figures from the gaming industry since 2021. In 2021, Mike Verdu—a former executive in mobile gaming for Electronic Arts—joined Netflix as vice president of game development. The creative director of Microsoft’s “Halo Infinite” game, Joseph Staten, made the announcement in February that he would be joining Netflix in the capacity of “Creative Director for a brand-new AAA multiplatform game and original IP.”

Netflix’s efforts to court gamers are likewise beset by technological challenges.

The founder of the venture capital firm Kyber Knight, which specializes in tech investments and gaming, Sunny Dhillon, stated, “I don’t think that playing mobile games on a bigger screen is something I would be bullish on.”

According to Dhillon, “the gamer is being handicapped by the bandwidth and servers that are being used.” “Due to the lags, I don’t think it’s possible to play multiplayer hardcore games streaming successfully right now.”

But according to Netflix gaming executive Verdu, the company is not trying to replace game consoles, as he previously told Tech Crunch.

It uses an entirely new business strategy. It is hoped that eventually playing games would just come naturally to everyone, no matter where they are. Versu