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Technology

Nobody Is Playing Netflix’s Games

Nobody Is Playing Netflix's Games

It’s been nearly two years since Netflix began its big push into gaming, and the streaming giant’s presence as a household name isn’t quite translating. According to recent findings from analytics company Apptopia, 99 percent of the service’s users have never touched a single video game on the platform. If you’ve played any of their titles, congratulations: You are the one percent.

Although perhaps not shocking, this news is eyebrow-raising. Netflix lost some 970,000 subscribers last quarter, and it seems the company is unlikely to recoup them by recruiting gamers. The stats obtained by CNBC via Apptopia reveal that games on the platform have an average of 1.7 million daily users—a fraction of Netflix’s subscriber base of 221 million. The total number of downloads for those games is about 23.3 million.

Tech giants dipping into gaming is hardly new. Amazon and Google have tried their hand by hiring all-star talent and working on in-house studios. Yet despite their best efforts, big companies with money have been unable to brute force their way to success. Video games are a yearslong endeavor requiring the hard work and talent of teams that can range from a handful of independent creators to hundreds of developers across the globe. Even when they produce decent games, as Netflix has, it takes more than a few titles to lure people away from their PlayStation, Switch, Steam, or Xbox ecosystems—or even the new season of Bridgerton—to play them. Netflix knows that its biggest competition for attention on your phone comes down to apps like TikTok.

Part of the problem, for Netflix at least, might be about awareness. Despite acquiring outfits like Oxenfree creator Night School Studio and Dungeon Boss developer Boss Fight Entertainment, the company’s investment into games doesn’t show in the way it markets and promotes them. (Just look at sites publishing well-read how-tos for finding Netflix games.) The streamer doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to luring eyes to some of its more original ventures. The largely unknown fan site it launched in December had barely begun to germinate when it cut the majority of staff. It’s canceled dozens of shows after just one season—a list that continues to grow. With games, it seems, Netflix barely let users know they were there at all.

It would be easy to say the streaming giant isn’t gaining gamers because their offerings are bad, but they’re not. Titles like sci-fi strategy game Into the Breach and card game Exploding Kittens are established hits that have done well on other platforms ahead of their mobile releases for Netflix. Originals that expand the company’s streaming universes, like its stranger things games, have built-in fanbases. Critics have positive things to say, seemingly in spite of themselves. The games just haven’t been given time to gain traction.

Netflix did not respond to requests for comment about Apptopia’s findings or its handling of current titles, though the giant has been clear about its continued ambition for mobile gaming. The company has plans to offer roughly 50 games by the end of 2022, including new releases such as telling lies creator Sam Barlow’s next title, immortality. Netflix is ​​fond of iteration and its self-described “crawl, walk, run” model. Obviously, gaming is still in that infant stage.

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Categories
Entertainment

Kiss’ farewell tour might be the End of the Road, but it’s also given Paul Stanley a chance to reflect

four band members in black and white facepaint in front of the word 'Kiss'

Goodbyes are often opportunities for reminiscence, but for frontman Paul Stanley, Kiss’ global farewell tour is also a chance to reflect on ways the band’s legacy will live on.

Famed for their face paint, pyrotechnics, costumes, theatrics and stagecraft just as much as their music, Kiss have always prided themselves on their ability to put on a show.

It brings Stanley satisfaction when he recognizes elements of that approach in musicians at much earlier stages of their careers.

“Being at a concert means being immersed in an experience, and for me showmanship and putting on a show is also a responsibility,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide’s Nikolai Beilharz and Stacey Lee this morning.

“I’d like to think that in some ways we were a wake-up call to audiences of what they should expect.

“Everyone else who is out on tour, or who has been out on tour, has Kiss DNA in their show.”

Kiss’ first performance was in early 1973 when Stanley was barely 21. His career has since spanned nearly 50 years.

Those years have naturally been accompanied by great changes in the music industry.

While Stanley stopped short of saying he would be reluctant to get into the game today, he recognized the challenges for those setting out.

“The fact is now that record companies … they’re not obviously record companies anymore,” he said.

A battle to ‘pay the rent’

Things have changed since the days when studios “would nurture an artist or an act.”

“Nowadays it’s really about bottom line, about whether it makes money or not, and reading algorithms and all kinds of things,” Stanley said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

PlayAudio. Duration: 2 minutes 52 seconds

Paul Stanley speaks to ABC Radio Adelaide’s Nikolai Beilharz and Stacey Lee.

Digitization can be a blessing and a curse. While it is arguably never been easier for those trying to find an audience to distribute their music, there are also downsides.

“You have streaming where people aren’t being paid what they deserve, and it’s a big problem,” Stanley said.

“Artists nowadays who are aspiring to become successful have a very, very difficult path ahead of them and unfortunately some of them find themselves saying, ‘Well I’m only in this for doing music’.

“That’s okay but you’re going to feel otherwise when you can’t pay the rent.”

A 50-year set list

The End of the Road world tour was due to touch down in Australia during 2019 but was postponed when Stanley had to pull out due to illness.

Ahead of concerts across Australia this month, Stanley said it was “insane to think” that the band had “been going on 50 years”.

“We’re playing things from every era,” he said.

“A set list has to be more than a group of songs. It has to have a certain dynamic that builds and ebbs and builds — not unlike, quite honestly, a movie at the cinema or a Broadway show.”

While there might be farewell kisses, the mood onstage will be upbeat.

“This is a celebration for us, as opposed to just deciding after a tour to never go back out,” Stanley said.

“There’s nothing morose about it.

“I go out there every night thinking, boy, we are just going to blow the roof off this place, or if there’s no roof, we’re just going to set the sky on fire.”

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