In the meantime, the company is ramping up hiring, with job listings giving us some hints about what they’re cooking. The latest info points to a AAA live-service shooter, with former Overwatch talent attached to produce.
The streaming giant has made forays into gaming before, but none have so far created a big splash - they still have a lot of plans for the future, as well as several studios being built. One such studio, headed by former Overwatch producer Chacko Sonny, is looking to fill a game director position. Prospective hires, if chosen, will work on what seems to be a AAA life-service shooter game built entirely from the ground up to be available as a Netflix-exclusive offering. Additional roles are also open at the studio, with the project looking for an art director, technical director, and live service analyst. According to the listing for the game director position, Netflix is looking for someone who has “a deep understanding of highly engaging content and how to deliver it” and be “deeply passionate about social systems and gameplay, both cooperative and competitive”. Clearly, we’re looking at multiplayer here. As is to be expected from a project of this scope and an employer of this caliber, Netflix is looking for experienced applicants who ideally have many years in the business and several launches under their belts - our own reporting is proof enough that even then, the vast monster of AAA development and publishing can shred projects up. Past offerings from Netflix’s gaming studios were mostly small mobile games centered around pre-existing franchises that had shows streaming on the Netflix platform and already sported a large fanbase. It is not clear if this AAA shooter will be a tie-in, or an entirely new IP - though we imagine the risk involved with the latter makes it less likely. The live service format fits well with the company’s subscription based business model. There are no details known yet, but we suspect the game, like other Netflix releases, will be available to subscribers and will feature additional in-game monetization. If Netflix really wants to break into the gaming scene and scoop up a new audience, we predict them rolling out new payment plans as well. So far, the biggest splashes Netflix has achieved in the gaming world were with tie-in shows related to gaming IPs, rather than their own games. We’ll have to wait and see if that changes in the future when the publisher ramps up their own releases. Netflix is hardly the only non-gaming company in the streaming world trying to muscle in. Google’s own attempt with the Stadia lasted longer than some would have expected, but still ended up getting shut down. Only time will tell if Netflix can succeed where many other companies have failed. Naturally, it is far too early to speak about any kind of release date.
