Streaming Giant Netflix Acquires Its First Video Game Developer

It's quite interesting to see Netflix go for this. I guess they realize that gaming is so big, but
I don't think they'll get very far. But eh, whatever.

Can't say I'm super thrilled as I imagine they'll want their studios' games to be exclusive to their streaming platform, meaning they likely won't be available to buy in any form unless it's something huge. That's how they threat their exclusives; no Blu-Ray releases outside of a few super popular ones, and it bothers me as I vastly prefer physical media to streaming. Video game streaming services are things I have no interest in, so any games that wind up exclusive to them won't be on my radar. I hope Oxenfree 2 will still be fine since it's already been announced for other platforms, but any future releases are ones I doubt will be available to play anywhere other than Netflix.

The heat death accelerates.

@VIIIAxel : Perhaps physical releases (like their extremely limited selection of Blu-rays) could be a possibility, with digital versions remaining exclusive to Netflix subscribers.

Given Netflix’s track record though, I strongly doubt that they will ever commission anything that I am interested in.

@VIIIAxel I agree.

This wont go anywhere

@Silly_G I'd imagine a few really popular releases might get physical releases, probably through companies like Limited Run Games, but I doubt the vast majority of their games will even be available outside of Netflix's game service unfortunately. My concerns come more from the possibility of them snatching up a really talented team and then locking all of their future games to Netflix.

I'm still confused how they're going to distribute this. Will they let you install the game on conventional hardware for free but with an obligatory Netflix account login to check the sub? Or are they expecting people to hook up a gamepad to their Netflix devices Stadia-style? Because in the latter case I'm afraid we just have another Stadia on our hands with everything that entails.

I am not too interested in any games made that Netflix is involved in. For every show I like that Netflix makes, there are like 30 ones that I am not interested in.

@iLikeUrAttitude this was said when Netflix started the streaming service. And we see where that ended right?

#NoToCloudGaming

Not a fan of this move and I’m a subscriber so I will have access (unless it is part of a new tiered membership that will cost more)

Am I the only one who thinks we are back sliding. As a teenager I was really liking the original concept of Netflix and how it could be the singular platform for all entertainment and a middle finger to Sky (satellite broadcaster) fast forward and we have 6 different streamers all with exclusive content and now we might end up with 5/6 game streamers.

I fear my generation and younger will retire have no entertainment possessions. No film, music, books or games we can access without paying to maintain it. Might even struggle to hold onto our private photos and videos of family memories if we rely too much on cloud storage.

"Supporting diverse storytellers..."

Well ok then. Can't say I enjoyed Oxenfree on Switch. The characters and their incessant blabbering put me off.

I'm just sitting here waiting for their new gaming console, just so everyone can hype it up and then it quickly dies out in an instant once it launches. lol

@VIIIAxel

This argument gets move pointless every day.

It's not even new: I'm old enough to remember when we had it for online services not taking payment via mail. The world moves on as it should.

Physical games are just objectively worse. They limit the size of the game, they can be lost, they can be stolen, they can be damaged. You don't own them, you licence using the data on them same as a digital game. You can manipulate offline mode for steam to play them forever, even if they are removed from the service, and it's even easier to do with GOG and other platforms.

They are have a Niche market, and that fine. Some people like them, and that's fine too. Buy them up where you can! But at some point you have to come down to earth and realize that no one owes you a physical copy, you shouldn't expect them, and that moving forward to new forms of distributions is a huge positive for almost everyone else.

There is this old woman I know in Japan who won't use Amazon because they don't have a mail-in catalogue and she talks about it CONSTANTLY.

That's you. You see how that's you, right?

@HeadPirate
I agree with a number of your points but there is a genuine concern and discussion to be had about the pitfalls of a digital only environment especially the way platform holders and distributors have set the current T&Cs firmly in their favour.

Firstly, you can say no one owns the rights to their physical copies but you could definitely legally sell, borrow and store indefinitely as you pleased after making one singular purchase (in the uk anyway)

Now I can spend the same amount purchasing my music library digitally but have less rights to pass this on to family friends or children. Legally it might not be possible. If the platform goes bust I don’t believe I have the legal right to ensure my music is transferred away to another platform open or closed to maintain my selection.

I don’t believe the argument that physical forms of media deteriorate with time justifies that customers should be comfortable knowing their current licenses can be invoked in the future or that this is some kind of equivalence.

No one owes anyone their preferred form of media but people should rightly argue that they don’t lose certain rights simply because said media is now digital.

DRM is another issue. Insisting people have online connectivity always for certain products is also crazy. User made workarounds are not the solution for the public. Mandated rights that protect consumers and set a clear unified policy of rights

So stadia mark 2 then?

As an environmental issue, I welcome digital.
The carbon footprint of physical media must be huge.
My concern is, games just disappearing without care to archive them, but then again there's thousands of home computer games gone, unless you find a physical copy (good luck with that) or someone emulates them.

The game is on!

@meeto_1
Well at least when the youngsters get into their old age they won't need to worry about that mass of boxes in the loft like I do!

I totally agree with you but I feel the companies have done a job at selling this concept, to the extent that our opinion is the minority. The companies are going to get there way and the more consumers play into their hands the worse it will be. The biggest thing I don't get is that they have also convinced people that they can charge the same price for it, how bloody stupid are people to accept that!

@HeadPirate Agreed. I like my physical games but I've calmed waay down on the physical market. Its oversaturated and almost pointless (depending on the game) in modern times.
People complain like Gamepass is some kind terrible service because you "don't own" the games. Get over it. It's a steal if you actually enjoy gaming. Like, 90% of Xbox physical games are not actually even on the disc. Honestly, I don't even know why Microsoft bothers making physical games.

Not to be negative but I'm pretty sure 'Night School' just dug themselves a hole to lie in and rot. I really do wish them the best though.

@HeadPirate you rent all your furniture instead of owning it? You don't want to own a house? You only use public transport?

Just be glad you have a choice. Your arguments slagging off physical ownership are baloney.

@meeto_1

It's not like your points are illogical or foolish or anything like that, but this is a rather text book example of confirmation bias so clear it's almost beautiful.

If you can't just ask "what's good about a thing" and as soon as you find something say that justifies the thing. When we moved from being hunter gathers to mastering agriculture your Fertile Crescent equivalent pointed out all the great things about non-permanent structures. They were right, and if they made the choice to stay nomadic because that was more important to them, no judgement.

Same here, you personally prefer physical and it is your opinion that the positives and negatives outweigh the positive and negatives of digital. Power to you! Buy all the physical media you want, man. Live the dream!

But you can't expect other people, businesses, and the world in general to stop advancing. You shouldn't expect a physical release any more then my Japanize friend should expect a mail-in catalogue because you, personally, and a small group of others resist this transition. She makes the exact same arguments in the exact same way, noting all the good about mail-in and her own personal preference while ignoring everything great about online shopping. Like you, all her points are valid from her perspective.

I have 3 switches and we all play Animal Crossing, Clubhouse Games, and Mario Kart together on one copy, and we all have complete access to every game we own at all time because of how digital sharing works. Xbox game pass took me from spending $1000+ a year to play everything I want on PC to paying $120. I'm really happy when I see companies go all in on digital distribution and start evolving the systems and one upping each other. Progress man, it's a beautiful thing.

As Amazon got into gaming years ago and even Apple has their own games-subscription, this was just a logical step, even if it feels sorta illogical as a customer. I don't really want this Games-Button in my Netflix library. Whats next? news and music? If they wanna do games, thats fine, but have a dedicated service for that, not some addon. Because as long as they can't go there, it will always show how gaming is just some headline on a revenue report that will quickly vanish, if it ain't milking cash from the get go.

@Qphlat27

Man if it wasn't a Nintendo site I could go one for days about how Microsoft has innovated digital distribution. I remember when the introduced game sharing and the "home Xbox" system and thinking their was NO WAY they were going to keep it like that. It still feels like cheating knowing every time my brother in law buys a game it shows up, ready to play on my Xbox.

And that's not even close to how much "Play Anywhere" blew my mind. I buy a PC game and BOOM I now also own a Xbox copy as well? I buy the last gen version of a game and they just update it, for free and in the background, to the current gen one when it's released or remastered? IS THIS REAL LIFE???

Nintendo was always the hold out as they try to fight piracy with physical media that's harder to copy, but I really feel like that's changing with game sharing on the switch and their "games as a service" model for Nintendo Online. Can't wait to see where they go next.

We've seen numerous times in the past. Games at a small scale are certainly playing it safe, but it's not gonna convince people to use a streaming subscription service as an option to play games.

@meeto_1 Netflix isn’t to blame for that, the content and cable providers are. Once things like Netflix started popping up cable providers started snatching up content providers to create their own services and existing content providers basically started holding thier content hostage (Viacom, etc) to raise prices, which is why Netflix was forced into making thier own content to stay relevant.

At the end of the day the establishment (cable and content providers) will get thier money. The only way to give them the finger is the go back to pirating, which is basically what it’s coming down to.

@HeadPirate sorry my stance may not have been clear but I’m gonna be charitable to myself and quote a line from my reply:

“ customers should rightly argue that they don’t lose certain rights simply because said media is now digital.”

My argument was not against digital outright but against its implementation and by extension a defence of people hesitant towards digital only. Users rights to their purchases being reduced to a license is a not defendable in my opinion and I foresee issues in the decades to come. I hope I’m wrong.

Yes, I used examples of buying physical but that was to highlight my critiques of digital not to dismiss digital entirely. I think confirmation bias wasn’t the problem but the mistake of placing my arguments as being direct opposition of yours despite me not making that argument.

To be clear, I have bought loads of digital games as well as physical ones this gen. but instances like mario run not playing because I have no reception even though I have paid to have rights to access it is something I think we should collectively fight against.

And whilst I don’t expect companies to maintain my digital purchase forever (although why couldn’t a method be devised so that we could redownload our books etc onto different platforms only covering the cost of the energy to make this happen, a different debate) I think if digital platforms like kindle for books of iTunes for music collapse its potentially goodbye to purchases.

Theoretically digital only could have provided: lower costs, forever access (complicated for video games on closed platforms I know) whilst maintaining our ability to sell our media and or pass it on. Possibly even loan our stuff. The reason we don’t is profits.

What I am very cave man about and I don’t care how much you condescend down to me is a loathe for a future where we don’t even buy licenses we simply subscribe to everything.

I refuse. It’s why I no longer use Adobe suite instead opting for Serif. I don’t use most apps that require subs I will never sub to use excel or word. I bought a version and it will have to do forever if they stop selling it.

@Strictlystyles I don’t blame Netflix I understand that the legacy providers decided to jump on board and remove their content from Netflix and it also encouraged new entries like Amazon. I was simply referencing how Netflix was original touted by its owners at its inception.

Sky has definitely lost some relevance in the uk and pricing has been more competitive. They are no longer the alternative to standard terrestrial tv here. I have even subbed to Sky Now for GoT and other HBO shows occasionally and gladly unsubscribe when the shows finish something not possible in the 90s and 00s.

I hate piracy because I’m my experience it leads to greater risk of malware and spyware. So far I’m using a friends account of Disney and I share my Netflix with 3 people. I feel this will come to an end not long now.

@HeadPirate I'm very glad you got a load of deals from streaming and DRM-protected distribution platforms. I have zero problem with that! In fact, maybe someday I'll take advantage of the same.

Why can't physical media coexist though? I own lots of books. I like the fact that I own them and can hand them off to anyone and be certain they will last without a random megacorporation intervening in my business. I don't get why you insist to frame it as, "Physical media is stone age, LOL. Streaming is the only way!"

I'm mainly concerned about game preservation. As many a defunct online game service and MMO foretells, even the best and biggest won't be around forever. And if it is, do you really want its preservation (and, ahem, pricing model) to be in the hands of a soulless corporation whose only initiative is money? It will eventually be that way for some games, since that is the goal of business: Make MORE money, which sometimes means squeezing more out of the consumer through shady means. I mean, just look at Gacha. I don't trust these companies. Look at Stadia too! "Pay for an expensive streaming service AND pay full price for games!" Ugh! 🤢

Also, your argument that it's less expensive is true for now. But it will not likely be true forever. Netflix is a perfect example. Now there are a gazillion streaming services hoarding exclusive content which put together costs more than cable did. Now it's also getting to where you can't even own the content either, meaning someday one of my future daughter's favorite childhood movies might be lost to bitrot or will be stuck behind an exorbitantly priced paywall when she gets nostalgic in 30 years.

All of this can be easily avoided too! Emulation means that so many files can be saved and stored with ease. The latest games have massive file sizes, sure, but you can still store them if you have the memory. Memory gets bigger and cheaper with time. Back in my dad's day, he was impressed at the upgrade from kilobytes to megabytes. Now we're moving from gigabytes to terabytes! Talk about progress 😆

@meeto_1
I couldn't agree more. Digital isn't inherently bad, but I'm not liking this push to an all-digital future.

Streaming games.... No thank you! I like a physical console!

I suspect Night School Studio will go the way of Typhoon Studios under Google...

I'm sure this will work out splendidly for them, and won't spectacularly blow up in their face for both Netflix and Night School.

After producing mediocre shows they will produce mediocre videogames too?

What's their plan here, platformer games on the godamn tv?

@nhSnork Hopefully it’s the former but I doubt Netflix wants to make that much sense.

@Beep_Beep I’m totally fine with digital. 90% of my games are digital (Steam, Eshop, etc)

I just hate the idea of streaming games. I live in a partially rural area and my internet is ass. The majority of people not in cities are in the same situation.

Maybe a new castlevania based on the series

Clearly very few here are long time PC gamers. Same as the PC, its not that Physical and digital cant coexist it just that eventually Physical will be pushed out since no one buys them anymore. Its a natural death. The same will happen to console games. Basically the convenience of digital has a greater weight to the majority of people than "owning" your game.

And so it begins...

I can assume that Oxenfree 2 won't come to Switch and other devices now, it will be Netflix exclusive? That's a shame for everyone who wanted it on their Switch, Ps3 etc.

Considering Netflix's latest trend, they will deliver half games and make you wait another 6 months to finish it.