Streaming platform Netflix has bought video game creator Night School Studio and rolled out five mobile games titles in select European markets, the company said in a statement.
It looks to diversify the revenue sources amid intensifying competition in the streaming space.
Night School Studio, the company’s first gaming studio purchase, is best known for its debut game ‘Oxenfree’, a supernatural teen thriller with an eerie soundtrack, Reuters reported Tuesday.
The studios’ games, which are available on Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PCs, will be the first non-mobile titles in the streaming giant’s newly created video game portfolio.
Netflix said, “Like our shows and films, these games will all be included as part of the Netflix membership, all with no ads and no in-app purchases.”
Streaming giant had mentioned its plan to enter gaming during its last quarterly earnings, as newer players, including Disney+ and HBO Max, have been rapidly gaining subscribers, intensifying competition in the streaming landscape.
Earlier the company also said it had introduced ‘Stranger Things: 1984’, ‘Stranger Things 3: The Game’, ‘Card Blast’, ‘Teeter Up’, and ‘Shooting Hoops’ titled on Android to Netflix members in Spain and Italy.
Poland, where the ‘Stranger Things’ titles are already available, will get the other three titles.
The company said in its shareholder letter, “We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation, and unscripted TV.”