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Netflix expands streaming offering with new games section

Netflix expands streaming offering with new games section

Netflix is ​​a classic streaming provider with many movies and series. But this must change in the future. The company is planning two new jobs for its users – one of which can be tried.

On Netflix, some good series and movies have disappeared from the show in the past few months. Many of them have migrated to rival Disney+. So Netflix has to devise something to keep its subscribers in the future. The service is now apparently trying to do just that with two new functions – “audio only” for fans of podcasts and audiobooks, and a games section built into the Netflix subscription.

Netflix only tests audio functionality

We’ve come up with the first innovation, which select Netflix users can try out in the Android app. Netflix has integrated an “audio only” function here, which turns a series or movie into a story — similar to a podcast or audiobook. If the mode is activated, Netflix turns off image transmission so that the screen remains black. However, the sound is still playing. Users can still follow the action via speakers or headphones.

But when does it make sense to only hear the audio from Netflix and dispense with the picture? After all, unlike radio plays, there is no narrator who announces what is happening or what can be seen. “Sound only” can be visualized, for example, for documentaries or for titles in which the audience already knows the approximate plot. Or a favorite series that you want to listen to again or refresh yourself after the holiday season. Since Netflix does not use the image, much less data is required to send, which can come in handy when you’re on the go.

The “audio only” functionality first appeared in October 2020 in the source code of the Netflix app. Some users were able to test it for the first time in December, but the range of functions was less. It appears that Netflix has now revised the new functionality and is making it available again for testing. It is not known exactly how the streaming provider selects the testers. Netflix is ​​supposed to introduce the new functionality to more and more users in the coming weeks.

Netflix will also be a game provider soon

But it seems that Netflix wants to expand its program even further. In the beginning it was Bloomberg Reports suggest that the streaming provider may soon introduce a whole new section of games. At least one increase in the number of employees indicated this. The streaming provider recently acquired Mike Verdo, the former vice president of virtual reality at Oculus and also head of mobile at EA Games. Together with Verdu, Netflix wants to build a gaming team in the coming months so that it can offer games to stream next year.

Meanwhile, Netflix itself has confirmed its gaming plans as part of its current quarterly analysis. Accordingly, they want to include mobile games in the offer first and make them available to users for free as part of the subscription.

We view games as another new category of content for us, as is our expansion into original movies, animation, and unrecorded television. Games are included in a member’s Netflix subscription at no additional cost, similar to movies and series. For now, we will mainly focus on mobile games.

Source: Netflix in a letter to investors on July 20, 2021

The Games section is by no means unfamiliar to Netflix. The company has already developed games based on its popular software, but so far it has released some mobile or console games.

Within the next year, the games will also be available directly on Netflix – as a separate section next to Series and Movies. No additional subscription will be required for access, so the games are available to all subscribers. But it is possible that Netflix will keep raising pricesTo cover the costs of the gaming department.