With the wave of excitement for the metaverse that followed Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announcement, the news that Netflix would be implementing games into their service went practically unnoticed.
The concept itself is quite interesting. The streaming company has decided to diversify its content and release exclusive games on the platform. Perhaps the ones most deserving of attention are Stranger Things: 1984, and Stranger Things 3: The Game, which were developed for fans of the show.
These are, of course, mobile games, and as such are also available for Android and iOS. Naturally, no one was expecting AAA-level projects as they require huge investment and enormous development teams. However, the mobile industry is no longer as popular as it was in 2012, at least, not in the West.
It is always possible that Netflix plans to revive the mobile gaming industry as one of the largest content providers, we shall see in the near future. On the other hand, Apple has already implemented the arcade section into their Apple TV, which didn’t start a revolution at all.
Would Netflix Accept Blockchain Games?
Theoretically, the idea is sound. Many crypto games use a lot of similar features to mobile games. For example, simple visuals and addicting gameplay.
On the other hand, the entire idea of subscriptions clashes with the general concept of NFTs. For example, if you subscribe to the Xbox Game Pass, you gain access to a list of around 500 games, but you don’t own any of them, you merely pay for a monthly/yearly “ticket.”
Of course, you could still hypothetically own some objects within the game as NFTs, however, without the ecosystem, or at least full-time access to it, it would lose most of the functionality. Thus, such games should either be purchased, or free-to-play in order for the system to work to its fullest potential.
Generally speaking, most people already use Netflix as a replacement for TV providers, meaning that games, or moreover, crypto games, might just be a delightful new addition rather than a game changer.
On The Flipside
- It’s more than likely that Netflix won’t tackle dealing with crypto games any time soon. The ideology of subscription services, on which Netflix is built, clashes with the ownership potential that lies at the core of the NFT concept.
