Netflix looks to be "rapidly expanding" more into games

Netflix appears to be growing its presence in the gaming industry with a new job description at the streaming service providing an insight into the company's future plans. 

The job listing (spotted by Eurogamer) is for a senior software engineer and it's here that it notes that Netflix is "rapidly expanding new gaming offerings" in the area. It also notes that anyone applying for the role will have experience working with Unity or Unreal game engines, both of which are two of the most common in the sector. 

Netflix told shareholders (via CNBC) in July last year that it plans to grow its games catalogue to around 50 games by the end of 2022. One of these will be Queen's Gambit Chess, based on the popular 2020 miniseries starring Anya Taylor-Joy. This new listing hints more may be in the works. A Squid Game title of some sort seems the most obvious, though could the platform pull from its other hits such as The Umbrella Academy, The Crown, Bridgerton and so forth? 

As of August 2022, Netflix has 20 mobile games available on the platform including two Stranger Things titles as well as popular card games like Exploding Kittens and Mahjong Solitaire. The full list can be found on the Netflix mobile app at the bottom of the screen within the games tab.

"Bring your passion for games and joy of enabling others as we build our games experience. We are rapidly expanding new gaming offerings, so we are seeking a rendering engineer who is excited to help us lead the continued building and scaling of our efforts for our international audience," reads the job description in full.

"We are looking for a rendering engineer to support our cloud gaming service.  In this role, you will help optimize the rendering of games so we can render multiple games on our cloud gaming appliances. You will also assist with the development of SDKs to enable game developers to succeed in writing high-quality games for the Netflix cloud games ecosystem."

No doubt the addition of more games will be to help Netflix bring back customers after losing 200,000 subscribers earlier this year. It's also reported to be experimenting with livestreaming to help enhance unscripted shows and stand-up comedy specials. 

In the meantime, Netflix looks to be relying on its big hitters like Stranger Things, which received its first update on season five recently. It also dropped a new must-watch documentary exploring one of the biggest controversies in sport's history.