Netflix Discusses Cloud Gaming and Account Sharing Crackdown Plans

Netflix published its quarterly earning results yesterday, and there’s some good news for the streaming service. Indeed, Netflix gained 2.4 million subscribers this quarter after losing 1 million in the previous one.

As Netflix is getting ready to launch a cheaper ad-supported plan in November, the company shared some details about how it will adapt its business model to the increased competition between streaming services. Mike Verdy, VP of Gaming at Netflix revealed at TechCrunch Disrupt yesterday that the company is “seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering.”

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Netflix is already offering a selection of mobile games to subscribers, but the company now plans to open a new studio in Southern California to create first-party games. “It’s a value add. We’re not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement,” Verdu said on stage. “It’s a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games where wherever you are.”

During its quarterly earning calls yesterday, Netflix also announced that it plans to start charging an extra fee to subscribers who share their password with others. This comes after the company announced a new Profile Transfer tool yesterday that will allow users with a shared account to transfer their profile to a new account.

“Finally, we’ve landed on a thoughtful approach to monetize account sharing and we’ll begin rolling this out more broadly starting in early 2023. After listening to consumer feedback, we are going to offer the ability for borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile into their own account, and for sharers to manage their devices more easily and to create sub-accounts (“extra member”), if they want to pay for family or friends. In countries with our lower-priced ad-supported plan, we expect the profile transfer option for borrowers to be especially popular, the company explained.

In an FAQ about Sharing your Netflix account, the company already specifies that “people who do not live in your household will need to use their own account to watch Netflix.” The company is already using IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity from devices signed into the same Netflix account to detect devices within a household.

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