Netflix games strategy - Costly dead-end or bold diversification?

Netflix now describes video games as one of its three core media offerings alongside movies and TV series and has ambitions to be a games market leader. That’s a pretty bold statement from the streaming giant that’s changed film and TV forever but is still only a minnow in games. Does it have the potential to succeed, or will it follow so many other major media/tech companies whose hubris and strategic misjudgements led them into expensive videogame car crashes?

Our analysts, veterans of advising big media companies about games strategy over 27 years, take a deep dive into Netflix’s approach, challenges and prospects. Note: this is not equity research.

Table of Contents

Video Games - A New Hope?

Limited Success in Phase 1

Netflix’s new mobile games ambitions

4 problems

Netflix’s second strategic line of attack

Could Netflix withdraw from games completely?

Length: 5,318 words