Netflix is making a big move into video games

A Netflix spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter that Netflix is moving into video games and has hired Mike Verdu, who previously worked for both Oculus and EA, as "vice president of game development" to do so [Of course, Netflix is not a Netflix company [Of course, this is not Netflix's first foray into the world of video games The company previously announced plans to invest in videogame development in 2019, notably with plans to adapt original shows like "Stranger Things" and "The Dark Crystal"

Netflix has also dabbled in hosting games on its platform by offering Minecraft: story mode and producing interactive stories like "Black Mirror:

The company has produced interactive stories like "Bandersnatch

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Verdu reports directly to Netflix CEO Greg Peters and plans to bring games to the Netflix app as a new genre This means that we could see video games appearing alongside films like "Lupin," "Bridgerton," and "Cobra Kai" in the future

The good news is that there is reportedly no additional charge for these games, which should be part of an existing Netflix subscription The only question is how they will work; Netflix's current interactive programming offerings, including "Minecraft," are little more than "choose your own adventure" style stories that can be played with a remote control

Ultimately, it all depends on what kind of games Netflix decides to make After all, Apple made a big showcase of playing mobile-level games on Apple TV in 2015, all with the Siri remote that came in the box; Netflix could do something similar and use the D-pad (which is on many remotes these days) or There is no reason why they can't offer casual games that can be controlled with basic touchscreen controls

If they have bigger ambitions, Netflix may not only need to support controllers, but also dedicated servers and infrastructure to support game streaming And that is no easy task

Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass game streaming is still in beta, even though the company has the second largest cloud infrastructure in the world In addition, Google Stadia has not had much success Therefore, Netflix will need to be cautious about its game streaming ambitions