We use mobile phones for everything nowadays. We use them to track appointments in our calendars, to check our emails for both personal and work use, and even to check the weather. There is almost nothing that we can’t do on our phones nowadays.
One of the main uses in the modern world is for entertainment. Whether that be for watching video content, placing bets after finding the best betting odds, or even playing games. We use it all the time, because it’s so easy. Take placing bets for example, you find what you want to bet on, deposit money into your account, place your stake and you’re good to go. And you can even keep up in real-time with results. It’s amazing.
But if we go back to the idea of playing games on our phone, there is something you may want to know. There is a new development from the house of Netflix. It was quite the shock, but a welcome one, as the streaming platform moved into mobile gaming, and it is causing a lot of excitement.
Plugging the new release as a “new way to experience entertainment on mobile” was Mike Verdu, Vice President of Game Development at Netflix, who drew inspiration from some of the stellar mega-popular shows on the streaming platform. He said: “We love games, whether it’s physical games (Floor Is Lava), mind games (The Circle) or Squid Game. And we love entertaining our members.
“That’s why we’re excited to take our first step in launching Netflix games on mobile to the world. Starting today, members everywhere can play five mobile games: Stranger Things: 1984 (BonusXP), Stranger Things 3: The Game (BonusXP), Shooting Hoops (Frosty Pop), Card Blast (Amuzo & Rogue Games), and Teeter Up (Frosty Pop).
“Whether you’re craving a casual game you can start from scratch or an immersive experience that lets you dig deeper into your favorite stories, we want to begin to build a library of games that offers something for everyone.
“We’re in the early days of creating a great gaming experience, and we’re excited to take you on this journey with us.”
Existing Netflix subscribers can visit the current Netflix app on any iOS device for immediate access to an All-Access Pass without any additional sign-ups, registrations, fees or in-app purchases. It’s as simple to access as just listening to and playing by the rules to move on to the next Squid game!
Netflix have transferred the functionality of their streaming system over to the Games side of things, keeping the differentiation between all of your profiles, including parental controls restricting the current games to be housed solely on adult profiles.
The best thing about the introduction of Games is the ability to simply pick up and play offline without needing a Wifi connection – great for those people who want to entertain themselves whilst on the move.
Whilst there are only a handful of games available for now, they do cater for a wide variety of mobile gamer – from Will Byers novice level to experienced Demogorgon level – and Netflix have promised to add more and more games with more and more features going forwards.
We could even see the games develop to the point where current and former stars of the platform feature as in-game characters to add an exciting extra authentic layer to particular themed games if this is the route the company want to go down – and it would make sense as theming their games to match their existing, and new, programming would be a surefire winner to attract fans of their shows into the gaming module.
After they announced the plans to enter the video game market in July, bosses have been quick to put the development action into place and to be launching just a few months later with five titles for users to play is a solid start – they can only go bigger and better from here.
That’s because, as you can see earlier in this article, only two of the original five games titles are tied to a series on the platform. “Stranger Things 3: The Game,” developed by studio BonusXP, is a companion game to Season 3 of the show – it allows the player to repeat familiar events from the series but also “uncovers never-before-seen quests, character interactions, and secrets!” according to its description.
Meanwhile “Stranger Things: 1984” is described as a retro action adventure in a similar vein to the arcade games from the ’80s which feature heavily on the show, letting players solve puzzles and collect those prize Eggos that Eleven loves so much, and also gnomes, along the way.
Netflix will surely see the mobile gaming industry as a stepping stone into something farmore huge – namely video game distribution. It could be the case one day in the near future where we could see their most famous shows transformed into next-gen console games to purchase along the lines of a Grand Theft Auto-style series with immersive character play.
One thing is for sure, retaining current subscribers and expanding their subscriber base are two crucial elements of the business model. With reports suggesting the average gamer spends more than eight hours a week playing video games (and a quarter surveyed saying they play for more than 12 hours per week), the powers in the corridors of Netflix HQ clearly believe that moving into the world of gaming will provide them with the best opportunity to do just that.
