Image via Night School Studio

You can't escape the biggest gaming news of the week: Xbox is looking to acquire Activision Blizzard in a massive $70 billion bargain. The news plant its mode onto Netflix's Q4 earnings call also, prompting executives to offering their thoughts on the situation.

Nidhi Gupta of Allegiance Investments asked directly virtually Netflix'due south ain potential acquisition plans (credit to Seeking Alpha for the transcript): "Why isn't Netflix participating in big acquisitions given [its] aspirations in gaming?" It's a fair question to enquire, peculiarly if Netflix wants to exist taken seriously in the gaming realm.

COO Greg Peters responded first. "It was exciting to see the activeness in the infinite," he said. "We're open up to licensing [and] accessing big game IP that people will recognize. And I call up you'll see some of that happen over the year to come up. We're going to be experimental and try a bunch of things." Taking Peters' words at face value, it volition exist interesting to see what "large game IP" Netflix starts dipping its toes into.

CEO Reed Hastings followed upwards with his ain comments, expressing a want for Netflix to carve out a stiff position in the game-streaming space. "There's no point of just existence in it," he added. "We [take] to delight our members by having the absolute all-time in the category." Pair this with Peters' response, and it really does sound like Netflix volition be taking large swings in the nigh future.

The streaming service has already made i acquisition, bringing Oxenfree and Afterparty developer Night Schoolhouse Studio into the fold. That came only a few months afterward Oxenfree II: Lost Signals got a surprise announcement during a Nintendo Indie World showcase. At the very least, we expect to meet that game playable through Netflix'due south service in some way.