Alain Tascan, the head of Netflix’s gaming division, sat down for an interview with The Game Business, a new gaming publication by Christopher Dring, a former team member of GamesIndustry.biz, and Geoff Keighley, the owner of The Game Awards.
Having worked at EA for 8 years and Epic Games for 6 years, Alain Tascan possesses a deep understanding of the gaming industry’s main trends.
His vision for Netflix Games is to create party games for TV play, similar to the Wii in the past. He pointed out that the limitations of the Wii included not enough controllers for everyone in the family and long game loading times. His proposed solution is to use smartphones as controllers since everyone already has one, allowing easy gameplay for one person or up to 20 players together.
He mentioned that using smartphones as gaming devices will open up opportunities for over 3 billion new players, unlike the console world with only about 150-200 million players. While complex RPG games may have a set customer base, Netflix’s games will not follow that approach. Instead, they aim to make gaming easily enjoyable for a wide audience.
He also noted that today’s generation has less patience for learning games. If a game isn’t fun within 30 seconds of playing, they may quickly abandon it. Unlike in the past where gamers had to pay upfront for games and were compelled to stick with them, most games today are free-to-play, making player retention a challenge for game developers.
A noteworthy point was when Tuscan mentioned that he plays games on consoles but admits that the future of console gaming is uncertain. New games are not dependent on platforms anymore. When asked if there are any 8-10-year-olds dreaming of owning a PS6, he expressed uncertainty because children can now play games on any screen, even in a car.
Source: The Game Business
TLDR: Alain Tascan discusses his vision for Netflix Games, focusing on creating party games for TV play using smartphones as controllers to appeal to a wider audience. He highlights the challenges of player retention in today’s gaming landscape and questions the future of console gaming in the face of evolving technologies.
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