Netflix is on a game-spending spree. The streaming platform, which believes gaming gives it an opportunity to monetize its intellectual property in new ways, has snapped up another independent game studio: Boss Fight Entertainment, a Texas-based video game studio known for making mobile games.
This is the third gaming company Netflix has acquired so far --- the second this month itself. Earlier this month, it took over Next Games. And in September last year, it walked away with Night School Studio. For the streaming platform, gaming is the new content. It is building game experiences, with no ads and no in-app purchases, as part of Netflix membership.
Netflix expanding its gaming catalog
Announcing the acquisition of Boss Fight Entertainment, Amir Rahimi VP of Game Studios, Netflix said: "Since we launched mobile games to our members around the world just four months ago, we’ve been expanding our games catalog bit by bit as we build out our in-house creative development team. So today, we’re excited to announce that Boss Fight Entertainment is joining Netflix."
Boss Fight Entertainment was founded in 2013 and has experience building hit games across genres for smartphones and tablets, including Dungeon Boss available for iOS and Android devices.
"Boss Fight’s mission is to bring simple, beautiful, and fun game experiences to our players wherever they want to play," said the founders of Boss Fight Entertainment. "Netflix’s commitment to offer ad-free games as part of members’ subscriptions enables game developers like us to focus on creating delightful game play without worrying about monetization."
The official statement did not reveal when Boss Fight's game under Netflix will be released. It is also unclear whether its games could be bought without a subscription to Netflix.
So far, Netflix has released 16 games --- all available in its app for iOS and Android. Expanding popular gaming franchises beyond just one platform seems to be Netflix's strategy. Its new gaming partners can not only put them on smartphones, but potentially into the mixed reality worlds that we all are slowly nudged towards into inhabiting.
