Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
TL;DR
- There has been a ton of evidence suggesting a Netflix gaming service is coming in the future.
- However, datamining evidence suggests Sony and its PlayStation brand could be involved.
- Sony doesn’t have a true game-streaming service yet, but if it’s working with Netflix, it could take the industry by storm.
We’ve known for a long time that Netflix is planning to offer some sort of video game service. With the company dominating streaming visual entertainment, it’s basically inevitable that it will join the gaming industry in some capacity.
Moser found several bits of evidence in a teardown of the Netflix iOS app. First, he found references to gaming with a logo that shows the Netflix “N” next to the word “Game.” He also found a shark fin icon, which Moser says is a reference to the alleged codename of the service: Shark.
More interestingly, though, he also found an image of two PlayStation DualSense controllers along with cover art for the PlayStation-exclusive game Ghost of Tsushima.
Netflix’s gaming feature has a current working name of “Shark” and is represented by this image in their iOS app: a shark fin. Could an image of PS5 controllers and Sony’s Ghost of Tsushima (director’s cut coming Aug. 20th) indicate a partnership with $SONY? Cc @HedgeyeComm $NFLX pic.twitter.com/FLghlRlu20
Obviously, the fact that Moser found this information doesn’t directly signify that Sony and Netflix are working together on a gaming service of some kind. However, the fact that Sony doesn’t have a direct competitor to game streaming services such as Google Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming makes this eyebrow-raising. Is it possible that Sony hasn’t launched its own service yet because it is working with Netflix on some sort of collaborative effort?
There’s a lot of speculation here, but it’s not at all out of the question that the biggest media streaming platform could be working with one of the biggest names in gaming. We’ll need to monitor this to see how it develops.
