Netflixhas taken the next steps in forging its path in the video game world. Earlier this week, the streaming giant purchased mobile game developer Boss Fight Entertainment in a move that will almost certainlyhelp Netflix strengthenwhat is currently a small catalog when it comes to its gaming offerings.
Netflix first announcedit was going to be making a move into video games last summer, though it turns out the company wasn’t aiming for a rivalry with Xbox or PlayStation with its offerings. Instead, most of the games the platform offers are smaller scale PC or mobile games that can be easily played using touch controls on tablets or smartphones. By acquiring the developer of mobile games likeDungeon Boss, Netflix appears to be planning to continue in that direction with experts in the field.
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The New York Timesreported that Netflix announced the new mobile games acquisition of the 130-employee Boss Fight Entertainment on Thursday in what is actually the second acquisition of a smaller game developer this month. Netflix is adding Boss Fight and Next Games to a growing catalog of acquisitions that started last fall with thepurchase ofOxenfreedeveloper Night School.
Even with those three companies, it’s clear thatNetflix’s video game strategyis just starting to ramp up. It certainly has fewer companies under its umbrella than big game companies like Microsoft or Sony, though it also doesn’t need to have that size of investment to see some success with the way it’s choosing to get into the ultra-competitive business.
At the moment, the entirety of theNetflixvideo game library involves titles that can be found on other platforms such asStranger Things 3andHextech Mayhem. However, the company has made itself very clear that it eventually wants to offer original games that will only be available on its service. Adding Boss Fight Entertainment to its stable will certainly help it do just that.
Netflixalso seems to be going slower when it comes to its foray into the video game world that other new entries like Google Stadia and Amazon Luna. It’s possible the company learned from the mistakes of those other newbies and is taking its time and really making sure that it has a grasp on what it wants to do and how to do it, rather than investing a ton of time and money and jumping in with both feet right away.
