Although Netflix is a giant in the audiovisual industry, it has primarily focused on series and only secondarily on movies. Video games have been a very tertiary interest for them, and while it’s true that it’s working out for them, it doesn’t seem like they have dedicated a particularly intensive effort to it until now. Or at least, it didn’t seem like they were doing so until now. Because Netflix has decided to take another step in becoming the go-to space for games on phones and tablets.
According to a journalist from The Wall Street Journal, Netflix is reportedly seeking to license significant third-party properties to complement its interesting but still modest catalog of in-house video games. This move mirrors what they have been doing with movies and series from the beginning but hadn’t explored much with video games until now.
This interest, as conveyed by the journalist, revolves around bringing a specific franchise to the platform: Grand Theft Auto. However, Netflix’s interest doesn’t solely lie in having the franchise’s games on the platform. According to the journalist, Netflix is in negotiations with Rockstar, the creators of GTA and part of Take-Two, the company’s owners, to launch a game under the GTA license. This development goes beyond the wildest expectations of many gamers.
This wouldn’t be far-fetched for Netflix. Not when they have the financial clout for such negotiations and, in fact, they have been steadily expanding their gaming platform. With games like Squid Game, Wednesday, Black Mirror, and Sherlock Holmes already announced, along with a triple-A game in development by a new Californian studio, Netflix is going all-in in the gaming world. Whether they’ll manage to secure a definitive foothold is something we don’t know yet, but given Netflix’s track record, they certainly have the potential to pull it off.
