In their latest statement, Netflix has announced that they have acquired Boss Fight Entertainment. This is the third game studio acquisition Netflix has done in the last few months. Previously they acquired Oxenfree developer Night School and Next Games, the team behind Stranger Things puzzle game, one of Netflix’s hottest IPs. Boss Fight Entertainment is known for the mobile strategy game Dungeon Boss. The studio was founded following the closure of Zynga’s Dallas Studio, which developed the Facebook game CastleVille.
Boss Fight Entertainment: Background
“Boss Fight’s mission is to bring simple, beautiful, and fun game experiences to players wherever they want to play,” the founders of Boss Fight Entertainment said in a statement. “Netflix’s commitment to offering ad-free games as part of members’ subscriptions enables game developers like us to focus on creating delightful gameplay without worrying about monetization. We couldn’t be more excited to join Netflix at this early stage as we continue doing what we love to do while helping shape the future of games on Netflix together.”
This studio’s extensive experience building hit games across genres will help accelerate our ability to provide Netflix members with great games wherever they want to play them.” Boss Fight will continue to operate out of its current studios in Allen, Texas (in the Dallas area), Austin, and Seattle. According to Rahimi, that will let Netflix “tap into great creative talent beyond California.
Amir Rahimi, Netflix’s VP of game studios
Netflix is going all-in for the ever-growing video games market
To date, Netflix has released 16 games, available in its app for iOS and Android, including two titled tied to Stranger Things. Later this month, the company plans to debut Into the Dead 2: Unleashed, the game will be its first-person shooter title. Netflix’s theory is that the games offered at no additional charge will enhance the value of its core streaming-video business and help it attract and retain subscribers in a heavily competitive market.
“We’re still in the early days of building great game experiences as part of your Netflix membership,” Rahimi said. “Through partnerships with developers around the world, hiring top talent, and acquisitions like this, we hope to build a world-class games studio capable of bringing a wide variety of delightful and deeply engaging original games with no ads and no in-app purchases to our hundreds of millions of members around the world.”
Netflix’s larger game plan is to lead the democratization of the mobile games industry
The news comes as Netflix is making a significant push into the gaming space. In addition to acquiring established studios, Netflix has also made mobile games a part of its subscription package. This week saw the announcement of three new games on the platform while experimenting with interactive series, including an upcoming daily trivia game called Trivia Quest.
Since gaming on handheld devices became a phenomenon, many companies have been trying to dominate the distribution of games across these devices. With their robust technology of distributing digital services, Netflix wants to create a market that is paid for, by the gamers and for the gamers.
The number of gamers on mobile devices worldwide is much larger than PCs and consoles. Most popular mobile games today follow the freemium model leading to some games having a predatory form of microtransaction, which agitates a lot of gamers. Suppose Netflix brings popular games into their library, and gamers can play their favorite games by paying a small subscription fee. In that case, it goes without mentioning how much potential such a radical distribution service holds for mobile devices.
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