A report from The Information back in May maintained that video streaming giant Netflix was getting ready to push beyond TV and film, and was actively approaching candidates to oversee its expansion into gaming. As first reported by Bloombergthat position is falling to Mike Verdu, former head of AR/VR content at Facebook Reality Labs and one-time chief of mobile games at EA.

Verdu is said to take on the role of VP of game development at Netflix, reporting to company COO Greg Peters.

Citing someone familiar with the situation, Bloomberg reports that Netflix will offer games on its streaming platform within the next year. Games are said to be included in the service’s monthly price, and will supposedly be hosted alongside streaming video content.

Verdu joined Facebook in 2019 during a reorganization of Oculus, which saw multiple executives shuffled throughout the company. Verdu replaced Jason Rubin, who at the time went on to head special gaming initiatives for Facebook.

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During his time as Facebook’s head of AR/VR content, Verdu oversaw multiple studio acquisitions, including Beat Games (Beat Saber), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath and others), Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo and Echo Arena), Downpour Interactive (Onward), and BigBox VR (Population: One). Those acquisitions spanned a year and a half, marking a significant push by Facebook to consolidate talent behind some of the medium’s most successful gaming properties.

Under Verdu, Facebook’s VR gaming celebrated a milestone of 60+ Oculus Quest apps exceeding $1 million in revenue, which was no doubt spurred by the 2020 release of the company’s second-gen standalone headset, Oculus Quest 2.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • wow.

    i hate this.

  • Merzcat

    Wow!
    Can’t wait!!

  • Interesting…

  • Toto_Dot

    Is there anything Facebook doesn’t keep their noses out of ?

  • Wishbringer

    Microsoft XCloud, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, Facebook Cloud Gaming, and now Netflix. With Netflix entering the cloud gaming arena, this only further blurs the lines between streaming movies and streaming games. How long can Apple justify keeping all these game streaming platforms out of it’s app store while taking no issue with video streaming services?