With increased competition, Netflix has found ways to diversify itself from the likes of Disney Plus, HBO Max, and other streaming services. Last year, it began to pivot its strategy, offering subscribers more value from its plans by adding access to mobile games. Unfortunately, not many were keen on the idea, but the company still stated that it would push things forward by further developing new features. Today, Netflix announced that it would finally offer a way for gamers to make things more personal by introducing game handles.

If unfamiliar, gaming handles are nicknames that can be used when playing a game. This allows players to still have a unique ID without revealing their true name. With Netflix's new feature, players will now be able to have a public username across all of its games. Furthermore, gaming handles will appear on leaderboards and can be used to find friends. In order to set up a handle, iOS users will have to open the Netflix app and download either Rival Pirates or Lucky Luna in order to create a game handle. Those on Android will be able to navigate to the Games tab and tap on a banner that states, "Create your Netflix game handle." While Netflix has stated in the past that it has more ambitious plans for its gaming platform, it has not offered any hints of what's to come. But, more recently, the company teamed up with Ubisoft to announce that it would bring three exclusive games to its platform.

Along with its game platform, Netflix is working towards offering an ad-supported tier of its video streaming service by the end of the year. While all of the details have not been finalized, it has been reported that the firm is working with ad buyers in order to launch on November 1. In addition, it has been reported that the new ad-supported plan could come priced anywhere from seven dollars to nine dollars. The launch date of Netflix's ad-supported tier is important because Disney is also set to introduce its ad-supported tier for Disney Plus on December 8, which will cost $7.99 per month.

Source: Netflix

Via: The Verge