Netflix CEO says cloud gaming is the play, Take-Two boss thinks streaming hits in 3 years

Saw this GameSpot piece about Ted Sarandos at the Screentime event and it got me thinking about where GTA 6 sits in all this cloud gaming talk.

Sarandos was asked if Netflix will still be doing games in five years and he said 'I think so.' He called their mobile push a gateway to cloud gaming, which is what they're actually more interested in. Netflix already has stuff like Red Dead Redemption, Sonic Mania Plus and RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch on mobile, no ads, included with a sub. They also have those TV streaming games that are more family and party oriented.

What's wild is they tried to go big with AAA games, hired some heavy hitters, then shut that studio down and laid people off. So for a while nobody knew what their plan was. Now Sarandos is talking about a post-console world where you don't need a PlayStation or Xbox to play. He pointed out consoles keep getting more expensive because of AI component and memory stuff plus the economy. Cloud gaming hasn't blown up like people predicted but he's not alone. Strauss Zelnick from Take-Two said he thinks the industry will be in commercial streaming mode within three years.

Sarandos also mentioned gaming on the TV and being early invested in that. He likes it for IP extension and brand value, keeping people on that screen even if they're playing instead of watching.

I'm still buying GTA 6 on disc day one, but if both Netflix and Take-Two are saying the same thing about streaming, the console-only era might be shorter than we think. Rockstar will probably be fine either way because GTA 6 is going to sell like crazy, but the idea of playing it on a TV through a Netflix style service in a few years is weird to think about.

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Source: GameSpot · Curated content.