Gameflix, house of videogames. Could it work?
Most of you may know Netflix. It's an online streaming channel by subscription. You pay a little amount of money each month and you're free to enjoy a large number of movies and TV shows with no additional cost.
How is this possible? Because Netflix is something additional, extra. This means, those TV shows and movies are distributed normally (tv, cinemas, dvd...), just like they would do anyway. But additionally, just by being in Netflix they get paid. It's not their problem wether Netflix gets audience or not, they get paid anyway.
It would be very different if, by being in Netflix, they comitted to it and couldn't be distributed through other platforms. So, producers have nothing to lose, it's not a risk being in Netflix, but a sure payment. In the worst case Netflix is a failure and they keep selling their products through the other platforms.
So, where's the difficult part? I mean, if it was that easy, Netflix would had been invented much before. Actually, Netflix started back at 1997, but it was never a big deal until 2011, when they started creating their own original content with the tv show "house of cards", and that was the revolution. With some more original content, like "Orange is the new black", they won a lot of users and money to invest in expanding to what it is today.
And effectively there is a problem: you need a lot of initial capital to invest. Obviously, when you start a project like that, you don't know wether you're going to be successful and get customers, but producers want to get paid from day one.
Now the idea I propose in this post is: what about "Gameflix"? This is, a Netflix of videogames. Companies let their games to be in that platform in exchange for money. Why would they do it? As I said before, because it's extra, additional. Companies, especially indie companies, would still be able to distribute and sell their games through any other platform, like Steam, while getting paid by "Gameflix".
Of course it's not that easy. Not everyone could post his game. Netflix chooses what series to include in its platform. So they choose only the best movies and shows to mantain the level and assure a good audience. No one wants a platform full of crap. So the administrators of Gameflix would choose which games to include. And I won't bother to justify it, saying that we need to use a fair criterium to choose which games deserve to be in the platform and which don't. In the end, Netflix and this imaginary Gameflix are companies, business, and their runners are business men. Choosing is always a risk, an investment and a subjective decision.
So, in my opinion, it would be awesome to have something like Gameflix. However, the industry still needs to evolve and change to get there. There are other legal issues. For example, sometimes Steam gets the copyright of some games published on it, and that would be a problem to publish them somewhere else.
Also, it would be great to have someone with criterium selecting games, to "clean" a bit the excess of indie games nowadays. And a system to let users vote, and a system that learned what you like to play to make suggestions.
But most of all, that you could play all the games you wanted just by subscribing for a little amount of money every month. Many players can't afford the actual prices of games and consoles.
Anyway, let's not get stuck in that idea. I mean, like anything I'm going to write in this blog, the point is not the specific example I show, but understanding what we can learn from it. And what can we learn from Netflix. In my opinion, this is it:
· When you need others to participate or invest in your project, even to contribute, make something yourself, create you something first and make it your best. The best way to make other trust you, invest in you, believe in you and make yourself a name is showing them that just by your own you're already able to do amazing and awesome things. If they see what you can do alone, they imagine what you could do with them.
* Netflix got it's success when it started creating its own original content "House of cards" back at 2011.
· Big projects and ideas, most of times, require a big initial investment and a lot of effort. Let's be clear, this isn't a "happy pink rainbow world", this is real life and you can't just get what you want by wanting it. But take it easy, use your time and your talent to develop your ideas, get benefits, move, experiment, try something new, don't get stuck, and with time you may have a shot.
*Netflix started as a video club and a home service at 1997. It took years of experimentation, changes and evolution to evolve. They risked by adapting the new online streaming service when it appeared and thanks to that Netflix has become the master of streaming with more than 75 millions of users.
· It can be a great idea to use a platform to be an intermediate between producers and users. Steam and netflix have succeded because of that. Producers must foucs on... producing, while users (customers) want to access their content fast and easy. Furthermore, these platforms tend to lower the costs and prices to users, like Steam offers or Netflix low prices.
This article is more like a market study. Don't know if can be useful to game developers but I think it's an interesting reflexion about the industry and the market.