In the announcement of the acquisition, Mike Verdu, VP of game development, wrote Night School’s “commitment to artistic excellence and proven track record make them invaluable partners as we build out the creative capabilities and library of Netflix games together.”  

Adding their plans to add “exclusive games designed for every kind of gamer and any level of play” on Netflix which will be included with its membership, and will have no ads or extra in-app purchases. 

Night School Studio was founded by Sean Krankel, a former Disney game designer, and Adam Hines, former Telltale lead writer, in 2014.  

In a statement, Krankel wrote “Netflix gives film, TV and now game makers an unprecedented canvas to create and deliver excellent entertainment to millions of people. Our explorations in narrative gameplay and Netflix’s track record of supporting diverse storytellers was such a natural pairing.” 

 Krankel reassured fans of Oxenfree and other Night School titles that they will keep working on Oxenfree II and “cooking up new game worlds.” 

“The Netflix team has shown the utmost care for protecting our studio culture and creative vision,” he wrote. 

News of the acquisition comes just a day after Netflix launched three new casual mobile games in Poland, Italy and Spain. 

In Netflix’s second-quarter shareholder letter, the company declared itself in the early stages of exploring its gaming model, and views gaming as another content category, quite similar to its original films and reality TV shows. 

Before working on mobile games, four years ago, Netflix ventured into interactive storytelling with the launch of choose-your-own-adventure children’s shows.  

Next year, the company took the format to its adult viewers with Black Mirror’s “Bandersnatch” episode. Since then, they have added more interactive children’s shows like Emily’s Wonder Lab and Minecraft: Story Mode. 

Read Also : Netflix Foray into Gaming to Expand its Product Offering

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While Netflix’s rivals like Prime Video and HBO Max’s Warner Media focus on studio acquisitions and consolidation, the streaming giant is prioritizing investment in games over snapping up studio IP.   

Even though this strategy is refreshing and way different from buying distressed movie studios. But it does pose one important question: will it work?  

The California-based startup shared the details about its new strategy in its financial report for the second quarter to its shareholders.   

The company cited the recent mergers between Warner Media and Discovery and the other acquisitions, in the last decade, between media properties, for example, Disney and Fox or Viacom and CBS.   

The company then said while they don’t believe in this consolidation nor has it affected our growth much, if at all.   

Also Read: Nintendo Launched New Switch OLED Gaming Console with 7-inch OLED Display 

According to Netflix, they want to be more like social apps than other streaming services. They say that their main competitor in the industry is itself.  

Put another way, unlike other studios, Netflix isn’t looking to buy other studios. Rather, they are focusing on continuing to make themselves better.   

The company wrote in its letter for shareholders: “While we are continually evaluating opportunities, we don’t view any assets as ‘must-have’ and we haven’t yet found any large-scale ones to be sufficiently compelling to act upon.”    

“In the race to entertain consumers around the world, we continue to compete for screen time with a broad set of firms like YouTube, Epic Games, and TikTok (to name just a few). But we are mostly competing with ourselves to improve our service as fast as we can.”  

Initially, Netflix will focus on mobile gaming and its subscribers will get free access to games. To give us a little hint, the company points to interactive TV such as Black Mirror Bandersnatch as well as actual games like Stranger Things.  

Initially, a report by Bloomberg indicated that it will be similar to Xbox Cloud or Stadia where the video is streamed to the player and the game runs on a remote server.   

Netflix has shared about the upcoming gaming service:  

“We’re also in the early stages of further expanding into games, building on our earlier efforts around interactivity (eg, Black Mirror Bandersnatch) and our Stranger Things games. 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.”  

While speaking about the company’s strategy moving forward, Greg Peters, Netflix COO, and chief product officer said that the company views gaming as “an extension of the core entertainment offering that we’ve been focused on for the last 20 years.”   

Furthermore, they plan to develop games for mobile-first and later follow other formats.  

Peters said, “Just as we’ve continuously expanded our offering by adding new genres, unscripted, film, local-language programming, animation, on and on, we think we have an opportunity to add games to that offering and deliver more entertainment value to our members.”    

He added that the company plans to start small into the gaming space which would be a “multi-year effort.” 

The post Netflix Foray into Gaming to Expand its Product Offering appeared first on Tech Research Online.

Besides, Sony’s next-gen console will also support popular entertainment apps at launch.  

On Thursday, in a blog post, Sony confirmed that on November 12th several popular streaming apps would be available when the PS5 launches. Popular streaming apps include Netflix, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Spotify, Hulu, Twitch, and YouTube.  

Also Read: Microsoft Releases New Updates and Features for Xbox App For Apple Users 

The company has also confirmed that the four unmarked buttons located on the PS5 Media Remote will serve as dedicated launch buttons for Netflix, Disney Plus, Spotify, and YouTube.   

On November 12th, the company will launch both the remote and the PS5 console together. However, it is not included with the console and you have to but it separately.   

It is currently available at Target store as a separate $30 purchase. Other retailers you can buy the remote from are Best Buy, Amazon, and GameStop. While they too are selling it, but it’s currently out of stock.  

In just a few weeks, Sony’s next-gen consoles set to arrive and they are showing that its upcoming console is much more than just a video game.   

The all-new four dedicated launch buttons to popular streaming apps and recently unveiled system interface will including a separate home screen for entertainment apps. Till now, Sony has only given us a better glimpse of how PS5 owners will be able to use the hardware.  

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