When he is not spending his time ransacking masterpieces of Japanese animation, the giant Netflix is attacking the video game market. And what could be better than to afford the services of trusted industry players? A priori, nothing.
The streaming platform has therefore just recruited Amir Rahimi as vice-president of development studios. The one who started his career as a tester at Electronic Arts before climbing the ladder to come out as a producer had since 2011 specialized in mobile games through Zynga and founding the TapZen studio. After spending two years as president of Scopely, a studio largely dedicated to adaptations of board games on smartphones, he officially joins the giant Netflix.
Video game netflix?
Rahimi took advantage of his first day as vice-president to clarify the challenges of his new position via a message posted on his LinkedIn profile :
Today was my first day as Head of Game Studios at Netflix. This post will take me a lot away from the development process (which I really like) but it will give me the opportunity to validate games that will choose to place the pleasure of the players above all else. (no more stress on monetization!) and maybe (hopefully) play a small role in shaping the future of this industry. I am excited to begin !
For now (and reminder), only five games are available via the streaming service (Stranger Things: 1984, Stranger Things 3, Shooting Hoops, Card Blast and Teeter Up), but the offer should obviously expand under the maestro’s wand, responsible for sorting.
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Unsurprisingly, Mike Verdu (the new manager of Amir Rahimi recruited only a few months ago), welcomed the arrival of his new recruit:
I’m happy to welcome Amir to Netflix, where he will develop our games studio and library for Netflix Games. His experience in the industry will be essential in our development.
If the catalog of Netflix Games is still very thin, the American giant has already started a buyout strategy, starting with that of Night Shcool Studio, the developers of Oxenfree. Everything remains to be done, as the other would say.
What are you expecting from Netflix Games? Have you already tried the first games on offer? Let us know your thoughts without a price increase in the comments below.
