Peters took it as an endorsement of the subscription model that Netflix has long championed in entertainment. Indeed, Microsoft’s primary driver behind this acquisition (behind all of the many acquisitions they’ve made since 2018, really) was clearly Game Pass. Head of Gaming Phil Spencer immediately said Microsoft would offer ‘as many as Activision Blizzard as they can’ to Game Pass subscribers once the deal is closed. Game Pass itself was, after all, openly modeled after Netflix. In October 2017, Microsoft CEO Natya Sadella stated: Of course, Microsoft still has a long way to go before it can lay a meaningful claim to being ’the Netflix of games’ with Game Pass. Microsoft’s gaming subscription service just surpassed 25 million subscribers, but Netflix itself now boasts over 222 million subscribers globally. Additionally, the company headquartered in Los Gatos, California, has officially entered the gaming space in late 2021. Its initial offering includes mostly mobile titles, though Netflix did acquire Oxenfree developer Night School Studio. In the future, though, COO Greg Peters said the company is open to licensing and accessing large, recognizable game IPs. Later in the earnings call, Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings hinted that it might take a while to get there, but the goal is to deliver subscribers the absolute best in the category. So we’re very open. We’re going to be experimental and try a bunch of things. But I would say the eyes that we have on the long-term prize really center more around our ability to create properties that are connected to the universes, the characters, the stories that we’re building in other places and sort of magnify that value for the fans of those stories. We wouldn’t be surprised to see other acquisitions made by Netflix in the coming years. Otherwise, it could take a very long time to build up the quantity and quality of gaming content. Credits for the earnings call quotes go to Seeking Alpha
