Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
TL; DR
- There is a lot of evidence that a Netflix gaming service is about to hit the market in the future.
- However, data mining evidence suggests that Sony and its PlayStation brand may be involved.
- Sony doesn’t have a real game streaming service yet, but if it works with Netflix it could take the industry by storm.
We have known for a long time that Netflix plans to offer some type of video game service. Basically, since the company dominates streaming visual entertainment, it is inevitable that it will get into the gaming industry in some way.
Moser found multiple pieces of evidence in a teardown of the Netflix app for iOS. He first found references to gaming with a logo that shows the Netflix “N” next to the word “Game”. He also found a shark fin symbol, which Moser says is a reference to the service’s alleged codename: Shark.
What is more interesting, however, is that he also found a picture of two PlayStation DualSense controllers along with a cover for the PlayStation-exclusive game Ghost of Tsushima.
The Netflix game function has the current working name “Shark” and is represented in its iOS app by this image: a shark fin. Could a picture of PS5 controllers and Sony’s Ghost of Tsushima (Director’s Cut coming August 20th) suggest a partnership with? $ SONY? CC @HedgeyeComm $ NFLX pic.twitter.com/FLghlRlu20
Obviously, the fact that Moser found this information doesn’t directly mean that Sony and Netflix are working together on some type of gaming service. However, the fact that Sony has no direct competitor to game streaming services like Google Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming raises eyebrows. Is it possible that Sony has not yet started its own service because it is working on some kind of cooperation with Netflix?
There’s a lot of speculation here, but it’s not ruled out that the biggest media streaming platform might partner with one of the biggest names in gaming. We have to watch this to see how it develops.