Netflix has allowed its subscribers to download free tens of thousands of mobile games over the past two years as part of their subscription. The company has produced more than 75 mobile games, some based on popular IPs such as Grand Theft Auto, Love Is Blind, Monument Valley, and Oxenfree.
Recent report suggests Netflix may be looking for ways to monetize its gaming business.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the company has been talking about making money off its games for several months, including in-app purchases, putting a price tag on more premium titles, and placing ads on games that subscribers to its ad tier have access to. All of these practices are commonplace (and even effective) in the mobile gaming world, where consumers will spend an estimated $111.4 billion on mobile games in 2024.

The company did not comment about the TechCrunch remarks.

The conversation is not necessarily a call to action. It may even decide on a pivot concerning monetization of games. It does seem to shut the idea of ads and in-app purchases during its earnings call back in April 2023.

"We want to have a differentiated gaming experience and part of that is giving game creators the ability to think about building games purely from the perspective of player enjoyment and not having to worry about other forms of monetization, whether it be ads or in-game payment," Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters told investors.

Plans do change, though. For instance, Netflix was against launching an ad-supported tier and cracking down on password sharing, but it reversed its decision after losing thousands of subscribers in 2022, which was its first subscriber loss in over a decade.

More, monetizing games would suit the streamer just right since its growth has levelled out at the start of 2023 as it is cutting 3% of its workforce. Netflix again raised prices, and its premium now stands at $22.99 monthly for new US customers.

But what really caught my attention is the 2022 job listing on Netflix that sought a game director to work on an AAA PC game. One may suspect that it is pretty costly as a video game project. As per the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, AAA games can run as high as $200 million in development budgets. According to WSJ, Netflix has considered monetizing its future high-budget games. Analysts estimated that Netflix has spent around $1 billion in acquiring gaming studios and overall investing in its gaming business.