Netflix VP of Gaming Mike Verdu dropped two nuggets of news about the streaming giant's foray into games. Verdu said that Netflix is "seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering." The company will also open a new gaming studio in Southern California.

"It's a value add. We're not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement," Verdu said on stage. "It's a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are."

Google's Stadia and Amazon's Luna have made the same play, attempting to peddle video games that people can play even if they don't have an expensive gaming computer or coveted console. But such services struggled to achieve mainstream user adoption. Google recently said it will shut down Stadia in January.

While Stadia's approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected so we've made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service," Stadia VP and GM Phil Harrison wrote in a blog post.

Verdu thinks these products struggled due to their business models, not the technology itself.

"Stadia was a technical success. It was fun to play games on Stadia," Verdu said. "It had some issues with the business model, sure."

Both Stadia and Luna have dedicated controllers — but Verdu was tight-lipped as to whether we can expect a Netflix gaming controller in the future.

He didn't reveal much about Netflix's new foray into game development but did say the company was stepping up its game development by opening an internal studio in Southern California. That marks the company's fifth studio, incidentally — just last month, Netflix set up shop in Helsinki, Finland with a former Zynga GM at the helm. Others include Boss Fight Entertainment, Night School Studio, and Finland's Next Games, each designed to develop games tailored to different tastes.

The new California studio will be led by Chacko Sonny, the former executive producer on "Overwatch." At Blizzard Entertainment, "Overwatch" was a massive success, netting billions of dollars. Sonny announced his departure from Blizzard last year in the wake of an SEC probe regarding sexual harassment and discrimination at the dominant gaming company.

“He could have done anything, but he chose to come here,” said Verdu. “You don’t get people like that coming to your organization to build the next big thing in gaming unless there’s a sense that we’re really in it for the long haul and in it for the right reasons.”

Since announcing its foray into gaming, Netflix has 14 games in development inside its own studios and today has 35 games on the service. In total, Verdu said it has 55 games "in flight" today. Those games include experiences based on original IP like "Stranger Things," as well as licensed IP like "Spongebob Squarepants." Netflix is also making original games.

"We hope over time that balance is like, 50% Netflix IP," Verdu said.

The company is still very much in its infancy with gaming but has not yet ruled out potential growth beyond mobile, although we do know that console and VR aren't in its near future roadmap.

News of the gaming studio launch and cloud gaming plans arrives as Netflix is announcing its Q3 earnings, which has seen the streamer beat expectations with an addition of 2.41 million subscribers in the quarter, bringing the total to 223.09 million. Netflix had forecast a net gain of only 1 million subs in the third quarter. It will also be reporting earning $7.93 billion in revenue in Q3 2022, whereas analysts predict $7.85 billion.