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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: etc.

"I wonder if Netflix can become the Netflix of the gaming world?"

When Netflix announced that it would launch gaming products on its own platform in 2021, people were not surprised, but showed little interest. Prior to this, the game services they provided were interactive film and television programs, such as the popular "Black Mirror: Panda Sneki" and "the Great God stole Carmen: do not steal", but the popularity of the "game" did not last long. In addition, lightweight games such as "Shooty Hoops" that landed earlier also lacked appeal to players and failed to make waves.

But that began to change with Netflix's acquisition of Night School Studio, the developer of the Oxenfree series. A large number of games have begun to pour into the platform, including independent masterpieces such as "Into the Breach" and Kentucky Road 0, as well as smaller works adapted from Netflix's own IP, such as "Kitchen Baking: ultimate Baking". Today, the streaming company provides users with games with a wide range of complexity and narrative depth, and has made phased achievements in the game industry over the past two years.

Netflix's games are not advertised or purchased internally, but are profitable based on a subscription model, which is attractive to independent teams such as Cardboard Computer. As one of the first game studios acquired by Netflix, Night School recently launched the "Orson Fry 2: disappearing signal" (Oxenfree II: Lost Signals), a sequel to Orson Fry, and received rave reviews. Game director Bryant Cannon pointed out that the good reputation of the sequel can not be achieved without the support of Netflix. "I remember that when the studio was acquired, there were only 15 people, but now the team has more than 20 members. In other words, there are more people to make better games."

The expansion of the team has also enabled Night School to bring "Orson Fry 2: the signal of disappearance" to more players around the world. "We translated the game into 30 different languages, which is incredible considering that the game has about 200000 words." According to Cannon, in addition to improving the technology and content of the sequel, Netflix also allows the team to create on its own, which is the greatest value to Night School. "from a creative point of view, we have always been able to maintain team independence, which is what I am most concerned about."

In an environment where many game companies have been merged, restructured or even completely shut down, Night School has the ability to maintain creative independence, which is very rare. Adam Hayes, co-founder of the studio and chief screenwriter of Orson Fry 2: the lost signal, admitted: "We were a little cautious and nervous before we decided to be acquired." However, he stressed that Netflix also understands that games are new and uncharted territory for them, and only through cooperation can they gain a foothold quickly.

Night School said that Netflix relies heavily on the acquired studios and is eager to work with them to explore how to move forward in the emerging field of streaming games. At the same time, Netflix games division will actively promote cooperation with third-party studios.

Ripstone Games, a British developer, recently launched The Queen's Gambit Chess, a game adapted from a hit drama of the same name. Ripstone, who specializes in making video games for traditional board projects such as poker and chess, does not belong to Netflix. They proposed the idea to Netflix.

"in October 2020, the popularity of" Rear Wing abandoned soldiers "in the premiere of Netflix directly contributed to a surge in the number of online chess enthusiasts." Said Jamie Breshaw, director of marketing and business development at Ripstone. He also mentioned that due to the social quarantine policy during the epidemic, people are looking for safe ways to interact with family and friends, and therefore fall in love with video games. "the games we make can perfectly meet those needs, so we contacted Netflix."

"the Rear Wing," adapted from Walter Travis's novel of the same name, broke the new record of 62 million households within 28 days of its broadcast. Interestingly, at that time, Netflix had not officially launched the game business or even released it. In negotiations with Netflix, Ripstone talked to the Netflix licensing team. "before detailing the plan, I asked this question:'a lot of companies are advertising that they are going to be the Netflix of the gaming industry, and I want to know if Netflix can become the Netflix?' of the gaming industry. I was shocked by their reaction." Bradshaw recalls.

In a sense, that issue prompted Netflix's decision to announce its new business ahead of time and completely changed Ripstone's plans to make games for Rear Wings. "all of a sudden, I found that all the good ideas I was going to talk about didn't seem to work." "so I temporarily changed my mind and proposed to Netflix to create a new game for Rear Wing," Bradshaw said. "

According to Bradshaw, the two sides worked closely to complete the work. "what surprises me most is that they have never intervened too much, but have been learning... as partners, Netflix has shown us a great deal of trust, love and support because they know that we know chess and want to help us achieve our creative vision."

Nearly three years after the hit of "Rear Wing abandonment", Netflix launched this derivative game, which is entirely aimed at novice players and provides online warfare capabilities. Although Ripstone and Night School are only a small part of the entire game ecosystem of Netflix, it is not difficult to see from the experience of the two studios that Netflix tends to provide resources for game studios and allow them to create freely. On the other hand, these studios sponsored by Netflix may also adapt many original IP into video games.

Adam Hayes revealed that Night School worked with Telltale Games to develop an unannounced "Strange things" derivative game, but then called it off because of the sudden collapse of Telltale. "to be honest, we often talk about whether to adapt some existing IP into video games, and Netflix always says directly, 'just tell me which one you want to do.'"

Bradshaw also mentioned that games might be made around other Netflix episodes in the future. "it's very important for Ripstone to build communities around games that people like to play. Games such as billiards and poker can bring people together and will definitely have a place on the Netflix platform."

Netflix's new in-house development studio in Finland is led by Zynga and Marko Lastikka (second from left), former general manager of EA. In collaboration with the game studio, Netflix is also likely to create derivative dramas for some popular games on its own platform. "this is definitely one of our goals." "when I started this studio, I wanted all the games we produced to have the opportunity to be adapted into movies, TV dramas, comics or other products, so we were open to it," Heins said. "

Netflix's game strategy is easily reminiscent of the platform's early practice of investing heavily in TV series or film projects in the hope of finding content that will attract a large number of users. Netflix would not disclose data on its game business, but a 2022 report found that less than 1 per cent of all members of the site could play games offered by the platform. But considering that they have about 221 million members, the number of daily active users of the game is still quite large (nearly 1.7 million). Meanwhile, Netflix is about to launch its own cloud gaming feature and is recruiting people for a soon-to-be-set-up internal studio to develop a PC-based 3A game.

In the competition with other streaming media platforms, can games bring advantages to Netflix? Studios such as Night School and Ripstone are happy to help Netflix find the answer to this question. "Netflix doesn't know what the best course of action is, and they are honest with themselves and with us." "they just want to launch some games, see how players and viewers react, and then make the best adjustments based on that," Heins said. "

This article is compiled from: https://www.theverge.com/ 2023 Universe 7ax 28 Universe 23806991 / netflix-games-oxenfree-2-queens-gambit-chess

Original title: "Two years later, Netflix is still experimenting with games"

Original author: Ash Parrish

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