This past week reports revealed thatNetflix, the online subscription movie and television show service, was planning to enter the game streaming industry. The idea thatNetflix, the industry leader in video streaming, might soon be competing with Xbox, Google, Amazon, and others, is an exciting possibility. Now the story has grown even more intriguing. A recent discovery found within the Netflix app implies that Netflix could be partnering with PlayStation for its streaming plans.
A datamine ofNetflix’s app for iOS devicespulled up two specific images that could draw the attention of PlayStation fans. The first is the most intriguing. It’s a custom piece of graphic art featuring two stylized PlayStation 5 controllers seemingly floating in a blue/purple gradient with bubbles floating around them. There’s no Netflix branding on the image, but the custom nature of the image and its location within the Netflix iOS app imply a more complex plan or partnership.
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The second image is much blunter. It’s an image from PlayStation’s exclusive releaseGhost of Tsushima. More specifically, it’s the game’s cover art featuringGhost of Tsushima’s protagonist,Jin Sakai. Again, there’s no Netflix branding on the image, but the fact that aGhost of Tsushimaimage has been found within the Netflix iOS app at all is mysterious at worst and evidence of a potential partnership at best.
There is one other image that was discovered alongside both of the PlayStation-related images. It isn’t related to PlayStation but is tied to the service itself. It’s a logo for what could beNetflix’s game streamingbrand. Its name is N Game, with the “N” being Netflix’s logo. On its own, it seems like further confirmation of Netflix’s plans to support game streaming. The lack of any PlayStation branding is also notable.
Ultimately, it should be clear why a potential partnership between Netflix and PlayStation for game streaming is still considered just a rumor. While there’s inarguably evidence of PlayStation-related graphics within Netflix’s iOS app, there’s no obvious sign of a confirmed partnership. It seems like a logical conclusion to jump to, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. PlayStation does still have its own service inPlayStation Now, after all.
If Netflix is partnering with PlayStation for game streaming, it would be a major announcement. A Netflix partnership would have significantly more potential than PlayStation Now. It could even be argued that the moment Netflix launches its PlayStation-partnered game streaming service as part of its current subscription with no price increase, that it’d instantly be the largest such service on the market. That wouldn’t make itNetflix’s game streaming successful, of course, but it’d be an instant massive competitor toXbox Cloud Gaming with Xbox Game Pass, at the very least.
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