Netflix games president Alain Tascan wants to build a Fortnite-like social gaming experience – and says the streaming giant is different to the entertainment firms that have given up on gaming when the going gets tough.
Tascan spoke to us at GDC last week, following a fireside chat in which he said Netflix’s games is now based on four pillars – kids, mainstream, narrative and party games.
The next day, he told us:
- It is in the early stages of building its answer to Fortnite, Roblox or Minecraft
- Netflix has the “grit and the resilience” to stick with games long-term, unlike other entertainment and tech firms
- It is still in the market to buy up studios
- There may be more completely free game releases after Squid Game
- Deeper integrations between shows and games are coming
- Netflix wants players to be able to launch games directly from the app, eliminating the “friction” created by Apple and Google
- That Rebel Moon game is still incoming, despite the radio silence
- Netflix games will “find its voice” in the market with its 2025 releases
The below conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
You have talked about Squid Game: Unleashed being a success for you, will you be offering more games outside of the subscription for free?
We’ll probably do more, we haven’t decided yet. It was an experiment. It’s difficult because Squid Game is kind of an outlier.
We did that for all the good reasons…and we did this very interesting ‘play along’ where you watch the show and you get some of the currency…down the road we want to do so much more, to start having an interaction between watching the show and then having something in the game.
With a game that has resonated like Squid Game, why not get some returns through IAPs or ads? Is that in your thinking, or is it really a brand marketing exercise?
Brand marketing…I’m not sure if we can put it in that category.
You know, the company has been very successful with a certain model. That’s why we’re doing this, it’s to learn. We’re very privileged to be able to put out a game of this level of quality for free, and we’ll do more.
Interestingly, in the countries where there was less penetration in terms of subscribers, we were able to expose Squid Game the IP to more people. So, that’s something very interesting and one part of the learning.
You talked before about friction – you still need to be bounced over to the App Store or Google Play to download Netflix games…what would you like to see change there?
Our goal is to reach a maximum amount of people, eliminate as much friction as possible, but there will always be friction.
Right now, Apple, Google, streaming…represents some some amount of friction. Things are evolving, we’re following the changes and we have a very good relationship with these companies. I hope that they facilitate the connection from the content to the audience, but it is not my place to say, do this, do that.
Ideally, you just hit play and it would all happen in the app, right? Is that what you’re working towards?
Yes.
But it’s difficult to see a way forward there without serious dialogue between yourselves and the platforms…
It’s too early to talk about the future on this one. Things are moving along, we are reaching a certain level of success and continuing investing on mobile because we believe it’s a very strong platform.
It’s the platform of the younger generation, and it’s evolving, we’re changing with the evolution. I think that friction will start being lowered naturally.
What are the first changes you made when you started in the job last year?
A lot of decisions were made three, four years ago and the market was so different. I looked at the changes in the market and said ‘reassess everything’.
We needed to be a little bit more intentional in what we were doing, probably doing a little bit less and choosing some of the priorities. So, yes, it’s four areas of focus [Kids, mainstream, narrative, party]. People will say why is it four, not one or two – because our audience is so large, we still need to provide something for a big chunk of our audience.
Some of the coming games are pretty novel, in kids in particular and couch play. Narrative, we’ve done a lot of things that are very mobile-centric and we haven’t pushed enough innovation on that side.
We did a lot of partnerships with our own IP, which obviously works, but we believe we can go further and deliver deeper, more engaging experiences for narrative in particular.
On your own IP – is that Rebel Moon game still coming? It was announced a while ago but it has gone very quiet…
[PR rep says yes, there’s more info to come]
I played it like a month ago, a new build, and it looks really slick. I was really really impressed by the quality of what they’ve been doing.
Outside of your ‘four pillars’, you also mentioned games like Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft…is releasing that kind of game what you’re working towards?
We believe we have some cards to play whether you’re mobile or on TV. That’s the kind of thing we’re going after with this type of ambition. We will take time because this is not the type of game you create right away.
We don’t have a social layer yet, and imagining that we’re making a game like this without a social layer…it will be dead on arrival.
Look at how the younger generation is engaging. We are looking at all these types of possibilities, that’s the discussion we have actively. Obviously we have to be within the gaming context, because, do I want you to know that I’m watching 150 hours of Bridgerton on a loop? Maybe not. Do I want you to know that I want to play right now, I’m on this game, I think it’s great? Probably yes.
But it’s new to Netflix, right? So we have to to be very thoughtful about this. We are actively looking at how we can build up some plans…there is nothing announced, it’ll take time to make. But this is not like five years out.
Maybe we can associate with somebody outside, there are tons of ways to achieve the same goal, right?
Are you only signing games with partners and building games internally now, or are you still in the market to acquire studios?
A combination. Making an acquisition is very difficult, you know, 50% of acquisitions usually fail. We’re considering everything. Unfortunately for the market and fortunately for us a lot of opportunities are coming up, so we’re looking at all of them seriously.
We are lucky to be in a position that we can look at the market and decide if it’s better to build or better to acquire.
How long do you have to execute your plan? At what point does Netflix say this is a success and we keep going, or it’s not working and we’re going to pull out of doing games?
The goal is to entertain the world. Entertaining the world without having a gaming offering would be not fulfilling that promise. Netflix [games] will continue.
I mean, the coCEOs have been there 25 years. And 10 years ago, Netflix was not in the position that it is today. Compared to a normal entertainment company, you have an almost founders’ spirit to know that it takes time, stubbornness and work to achieve something.
It is clear, especially with the younger generation, that gaming is a big part of entertainment. Therefore, we need to be there. Right now, we’ve fine-tuned the strategy. But I think the commitment of Netflix is real, long term. Strategy might shift. People might, you know, be asked to go away…but I think the commitment is there.
This year we might start to put some really interesting things out there to find our voice with new ways to play, and then build from there.
We’ve all seen big entertainment companies come into games, fail and back out again. Why do you think Netflix is different?
All these companies have been founded 100 years ago by entrepreneurs and now they are run by business people and they’re public companies – they have a two, three, four year plan where the stock has to go up.
They don’t have this personal experience to say, no, we’re gonna go at it until we reach our goals. That’s one of the main reasons I joined, because everybody said the same stuff – oh, you’re gonna stop if you don’t have a super result.
I spend a lot of time with Greg and Ted and the rest of the executive staff, and I saw the grit and the resilience not just in their eyes, but in their acts…they’ve been at it a long time and it paid off.
So I believe strongly in the company goals and in the means they put behind these goals.
