Imagine, for a second, playing a game and having an ad potentially interrupt you. A ridiculous and horrible idea, one that Netflix is apparently considering.
In case you didn’t know, Netflix is now in the gaming market, offering free games to all subscribers. Granted, they’re mostly mobile games, but the service has seen some major titles, such as TNMT: Shredder’s Revenge, Dead Cells, and, more recently, the GTA Trilogy. It’s a nice additional perk for subscribers that has seen millions of downloads from users in 2023.
So, understandably, Netflix is looking for ways to bump up revenue. One is in-game purchases, a practice already common in the gaming industry, while the other is ads that play in-game. This is according to sources from the Wall Street Journal, where options are being discussed internally at Netflix.
Netflix Co-Chief Executive Greg Peters told investors back in April 2023 that they wanted to differentiate their gaming experience without the worry of ads or in-game payments, though based on WSJ, the company is changing its stance on that.
We aren’t surprised if this is true, as the company has been looking for ways to earn more due to the cost of operation. Netflix launched an ad-tier plan in November 2022, which has since seen over 15 million subscribers. From their perspective, the data may show that many don’t care about ads.
However, there is a huge difference between a show/movie and a video game, as one is interactive while the other isn’t. We’ve seen this approach receive pushback before when patents have surfaced, and recently, an ad popping up in-game for users playing Assassin Creed. Ubisoft released a statement saying it was a technical error. The response from gamers has been nothing but negative, making it clear they don’t wasn’t this form of advertisement.
We have been made aware that some players encountered a pop-up message in-game while playing certain Assassin’s Creed titles yesterday. This was the result of a technical error that has now been fixed.
— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) November 24, 2023
Our intention was to display a promotion for Assassin's Creed Mirage as part…
Will Netflix follow through, or will they look at past examples and go another approach? Only time will tell.
Source: Wall Street Journal