Netflix's President of Games, Alain Tascan, is expecting a future generation that relies less on gaming consoles as major players like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo push forward with new hardware.
It's so hard. I have an N64, Wii, Wii U, Switch, PS5. The N64, Wii and Wii U have every game available on them. Switch and PS5 have decent libraries.
I set a laptop up with emulators of the main consoles before N64 (Nintendo/Sega/Handhelds etc) with the top 100 games of each, all in a nice emulation station interface with box art and video previews, and my personal favourites favourited. I set up steam family sharing with my library of 500 games (with inappropriate ones filtered out but still massive).
Didn't ever buy them an ipad/tablet and never let them use my phone. Taught them how to use all of the things mentioned. Commonly play couch multiplayer games on these things with them. They're not bad at games either. Beat Celeste, Undertale, Super Metroid as a few examples.
And YET I'll still find my kids on the laptop playing rubbish flash games and shit, or asking their Nan to let them play on her phone.
Eight year olds also don't have any money. I'm a grown ass adult and can afford to PS6 if it's compelling enough. Also, none of those Netflix games are interesting.
They published some interesting mobile ones. And then figure out the crappy slop based on their TV shows actually does better, so they are going all-in on that.
Some games (I think Bloons 6 might be one of them) are available on the play store as a Netflix version which is just the paid version supported by a Netflix subscription.
I know the headline says PlayStation, but this whole thread is ignoring the Nintendo Switch. For every PS5 sold, two Nintendo Switches were sold. Maybe PlayStation and Xbox are on the decline, but the Switch is nearly the bestselling console of all time (the PS2 is still in the lead and will likely hold that title.)
Also when it comes to MUST HAVE games, Nintendo has so many of those to choose from. Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, the list goes on.
Nintendo has absolutely dominated the console market and this article seems to just ignore that.
Then why aren't they getting jobs to support this claim? The number of 8 years olds with a credit card is STILL zero and it's 2025. Aren't they in interested in building their credit?
My 6.5 yo is obsessed with PlayStation hardware. He watches teardowns and refurbishing videos. He's interested in all the old PlayStations and upcoming hardware. A lot of this started with Astros Playroom and collecting hardware.
Damn I am glad every day I cancelled this shit, and I started as a customer back in under “please mail me DVDs” phase. This company has completely lost itself.
Yup, was a customer from DVD mailing days up to a few price hikes ago. Now I use Real-Debrid with Stremio for a few bucks a month and laugh every time there's another price hike.
On the one hand, I agree that consoles get less relevant and important with each new generation. On the other hand, Netflix gaming isn't what kids care about.
Most kids I know play Roblox, minecraft and fortnite on underpowered PCs.
They don't care about the new GPU launches either because even average home PCs play these games.
True, if I look at my own kids. The eldest doesn't use their PS5, the PC is connected to the big screen. The middle one only uses their PS4 Pro to watch Youtube.
All gaming is done on PC.
Us parents are console gamers only so it's definitely not influencing on our side.
My 7yo is the heaviest user of our PS5 but he pretty much only plays Fortnite on it and plays everything else on his switch.
I think the convenience of switch and mobile games are something that todays kids have that we really didn’t have and that’s why Netflix is saying this.
I mean, is it that? Or are electronics getting to an unattainable price point? What 8 year old has $400+ for a console and $60 per game? Sure, parents will buy it, but it's out of range for many.
That too, but also console gens aren't what they used to be. What has the current gen done to justify itself beyond the prior gen?
The PS5 is basically PS4 Pro 2. Meh.
Where's the excitement? We don't have the graphical or storytelling upgrades of the past anymore. What is going to be incredible and new abiht the next generation? Probably not much.
Reminds me of the story from the other day about how 80%? of hours spent playing PC games are on titles more than 6 years old.
Hell, I just upgraded my video card for the first time in seven years, but the reason I did it was mainly due to factors like avoiding increased future costs due to tariffs and wanting modern API support for stuff like raytracing and experimenting with LLMs, not because there was some particular new game I had in mind that required it.
I quit consoles after the PS3/Wii/360, but even I recognize the PS5 is a MASSIVE upgrade to even a PS4 Pro with a SSD installed. Framerates and load times are insanely better on the PS5.
Some time ago the kids aren't just eating soap because it was "colorful and pretty", but they turn it in a viral internet challenge who resulted in even more kids eating soap.
I honestly more worried about the fact we haven't basically no "next gen" games for the actual console generation and we are at the verge of the new console generation