Netflix to Release new Video Games based on its Shows
Netflix Inc. unveiling at E3 new video games based on its shows, as the streaming company expands to multimedia.
Stranger Things 3: The Game, a title based on the popular teen series, will come out on July 4, the same day the third season of the show debuts. Netflix has also licensed “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” for a game that will debut later this year.
The company has licensed a “Stranger Things” mobile game in 2017 and has since struck deals for “Stranger Things” T-shirts, Coca-Cola bottles and ice cream. A new mobile game will debut in 2020.
Netflix generates virtually all of its sales from subscriptions to its streaming service, the world’s largest paid online TV network. But both merchandise and video games could become new revenue streams.
“We’re looking for opportunities to extend the universe of these shows and films into other mediums,” Chris Lee, the director of interactive games at Netflix, said during a panel at the E3 video-game expo. “To me, it was really obvious to try to do that into video games.”
Netflix isn’t developing or producing the video games itself, opting instead to license the characters to outside studios.
Its first two games will be available on most of the major gaming consoles, as well as personal computers.