Netflix would like to integrate advertisements even into its premium games

Many players in the film and video streaming market are looking tonew ways to increase their income. Two main strategies emerge: integrate advertising and increase the price of the subscription. If Apple fully embraced the second solution last year, by raising the price of its services, others prefer the first, or even the combination of one of the other. At Netflix for example, the idea of integrating advertisements seems to be gaining ground, both for the film and series platform and for that dedicated to video games, Netflix Games.

Because if you didn't know it yet, Netflix subscribers are in fact entitled to unlimited access to a catalog of video content, but also to certain premium video games on iPhone and iPad. This service is one of the biggest competitors of Apple Arcade, the famous paid catalog of video games offered by the Californian firm.

One big difference separates the two, however: the game catalog. The titles are often exclusive, rarely found in both, or outside of these two catalogs. And soon, another major distinction could be seen. It concerns advertising precisely.

The comeback of ads

Indeed, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, Netflix would considerto integrate advertisements into the games in its paid video game catalog. Worse still, the streaming giant would even imagine addingachats in-apps, which is the worst way (for players) to compensate developers.

Obviously, we are talking about big money (and big losses): Netflix has at this stage spent around 1 billion dollars in the development of its video game side, according to the source. And for the moment, success would not really be there:less than one percentof Netflix subscribers would play the games included in the catalog…

The return on investment is therefore currently very poor for Netflix Games, to the point that advertising and in-app purchases are being considered to limit the damage...

If Netflix chooses this route, we hope to be able to choose between a cheaper subscription, with advertisements and in-app purchases in games, and a more “premium” subscription, more expensive, but removing advertisements and integrated payments. As is already the case for films and series elsewhere.

Remember that Netflix Games is includedin all Netflix subscriptions, even the most accessible at €5.99 (including commercial messages broadcast before and during films and series). Opposite, Apple Arcade costs a little more, €6.99 per month. But for this little extra euro, you have more than 200 games (around 50 for Netflix Games), and are almost guaranteed to never have to see advertising or in-app purchases (fingers crossed).

By the way, for an overview of the excellent titles available on Apple Arcade, check outour best of the best Apple Arcade games released last year.