{"id":17901,"date":"2025-02-27T10:37:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T09:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/netflixs-games-were-once-its-best-kept-secret-where-did-it-all-go-wrong\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T10:37:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T09:37:30","slug":"netflixs-games-were-once-its-best-kept-secret-where-did-it-all-go-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/netflixs-games-were-once-its-best-kept-secret-where-did-it-all-go-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix\u2019s games were once its best-kept secret \u2013 where did it all go wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Its investment in indie darlings and big-name talent suggested the streamer wanted big stakes in the gaming industry, but layoffs, lousy ties-in and leadership changes suggest that is changing<\/p>\n<p>When Netflix first started adding video games to its huge catalogue of streaming TV shows and films, it did so quietly. In 2021, after releasing an impressive experiment with the idea of interactive film in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tv-and-radio\/2019\/jan\/01\/black-mirror-bandersnatch-review-charlie-brooker-netflix-tv-of-tomorrow-is-now-here\">Black Mirror: Bandersnatch<\/a> in 2018 and a free Stranger Things game in 2019, Netflix began expanding more fully into interactive entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>The streamer\u2019s gaming offering, for a long time, was its best-kept secret. Whoever was running it really had an eye for quality: award-winningly brilliant and relatively little-known indie games comprised the majority of its catalogue, alongside decent licensed games based on everything from The Queen\u2019s Gambit to the reality dating show Too Hot to Handle. Subscribers could play games such as Before Your Eyes, a brief and touching story about a life cut short; Spiritfarer, about guiding lost souls to rest and Into the Breach, a superb sci-fi strategy game with robots v aliens. The company bought or invested in several game studios known for making critically acclaimed work, including London-based Ustwo games (which was behind Monument Valley). It also established a studio in California to work on blockbuster games, staffed by veteran developers.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/games\/2025\/feb\/26\/pushing-buttons-netflix-gaming-division\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/944f1115e8c484b1c46fd480189dd5dce32a21b6\/0_29_1743_1046\/master\/1743.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=83777d7fc44361db69070c16d20b7bea\" title=\"Netflix\u2019s games were once its best-kept secret \u2013 where did it all go wrong?\" \/>Its investment in indie darlings and big-name talent suggested the streamer wanted big stakes in the gaming industry, but layoffs, lousy ties-in and leadership changes suggest that is changing<br \/>\nWhen Netflix first started adding video games to its huge catalogue of streaming TV shows and films, it did so quietly. In 2021, after releasing an impressive experiment with the idea of interactive film in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch in 2018 and a free Stranger Things game in 2019, Netflix began expanding more fully into interactive entertainment.<br \/>\nThe streamer\u2019s gaming offering, for a long time, was its best-kept secret. Whoever was running it really had an eye for quality: award-winningly brilliant and relatively little-known indie games comprised the majority of its catalogue, alongside decent licensed games based on everything from The Queen\u2019s Gambit to the reality dating show Too Hot to Handle. Subscribers could play games such as Before Your Eyes, a brief and touching story about a life cut short; Spiritfarer, about guiding lost souls to rest and Into the Breach, a superb sci-fi strategy game with robots v aliens. The company bought or invested in several game studios known for making critically acclaimed work, including London-based Ustwo games (which was behind Monument Valley). It also established a studio in California to work on blockbuster games, staffed by veteran developers. Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Its investment in indie darlings and big-name talent suggested the streamer wanted big stakes in the gaming industry, but layoffs, lousy ties-in and leadership changes suggest that is changing When Netflix first started adding video games to its huge catalogue of streaming TV shows and films, it did so quietly. In 2021, after releasing an &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/netflixs-games-were-once-its-best-kept-secret-where-did-it-all-go-wrong\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Netflix\u2019s games were once its best-kept secret \u2013 where did it all go wrong?<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17901"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}