Games are finally front and center. When Netflix began releasing mobile games in late 2021, it was easy to discount the company’s efforts at yet another experiment, similar to its ultimately discontinued interactive shows. Four years later, it’s becoming evident that Netflix has bigger ambitions: The company wants to become the Netflix of gaming, and its plans include both games tied to its original IP and a new type of party-games to reinvent game night in the streaming age.

With this week’s redesign, Netflix further demonstrates how serious it is about the medium: Games now have their own tab in the newly-introduced top menu bar, right next to movies and shows. Initially, we can expect the company to use that tab to more aggressively market its mobile games to TV users. But soon, this will also be where everyone will be able to access cloud games that can be played directly on the TV.

Live is still a growth area for Netflix. One thing you won’t find in that top menu bar, for now: a dedicated live tab. That’s a tacit acknowledgement that live, despite significant investments, is still nascent for Netflix. Simply put, Netflix doesn’t have a new live show every minute of every day. 

That’s why for now, Netflix still plans to highlight live events within its main interface – and hopes that a cleaner design with bigger tiles will get you to tune in. “With on demand, you can watch at your convenience,” said Kim.  “With a live event like the NFL on Christmas Day, you want to catch the action the moment that it happens. So we need to let you know when to tune in.”

That said, I’d fully expect Netflix to introduce a dedicated live tab in that top menu bar the moment it has enough current and upcoming content to justify it.

There’s more to recommendations than just the past. The existing version of Netflix’s TV UI was all about personalization based on your past viewing behavior. You watched Squid Game? Here’s another 10 Korean dramas you might like.

The new UI is designed to be a lot more dynamic, and is supposed to anticipate what you may want to watch at any specific moment in time. “While we think our recommendations do a pretty good job, we believe we can do even better,” said Stone. “We don't always know exactly what you're in the mood for at that moment. Maybe you've had a tough day. Or [you] heard about a new actor in the news, or [are] watching with family and friends.”

To that end, Netflix is adapting the UI in real time. Did you watch a certain trailer, or search for a movie in a certain genre? Then Netflix will take those signals to rearrange your TV homepage. Stone said that this could over time also include more subtle signals. One could imagine the company incorporating factors such as time-of-day (casual viewing during your lunch break vs. evening binging), day of the week (weeknight viewing vs. Saturday movie night) and even the device you use (your phone vs. the living room TV vs the TV in the bedroom).

“Because everything will happen seamlessly in the background, you won't even notice it happening,” Stone said. “It will just be magically easier to find something to watch.”

Even at Netflix, AI is everywhere. Netflix has long used machine learning for recommendations, but the company is not immune to the lure of generative AI. It has been experimenting with LLM search, powered by OpenAI, which it plans to make more widely available this week. 

The company has also started to use generative AI for localization, Stone said this week, and has begun to share the technology with creators. “There's many artists and writers that we're working with who may want to explore what those tools are capable of,” Stone said. I took a closer look at the breadth of Netflix’s generative AI ambitions last fall.

Netflix still has TikTok envy. If Netflix Games are the company’s answer to Fortnite, and bringing on Ms. Rachel is its attempt to win back YouTube audiences, then what’s its response to TikTok? Apparently, yet another feed for you to scroll through, which the company previewed during its press event this week as well. 

“We know that swiping through a vertical feed on social media apps is an easy way to browse video content,” Kim said. “In the coming weeks, we'll be testing a vertical feed filled with clips of Netflix shows and movies to make discovery easy and fun.”

The company has tested social media-like feeds in the past, including the cards-based New & Hot feed that’s currently available within the Netflix mobile app. For the new feed, Netflix is apparently cropping its existing videos to work in landscape mode.

But Netflix doesn’t just want you to passively browse through a pre-populated feed. The company has made it easier for subscribers to share content on social media through a feature called Moments. “We'll be investing more in this space in the coming months,” Stone promised this week.

Where may Netflix take its social ambitions next? If a recent job offer is any indication, the answer could be the Netflix app itself. Until now, Netflix subscribers have only been able to share Moments on third-party platforms. But when the company began its search for a PM, Create & Share recently, it said it was looking to “help members create and share content in engaging ways off-and-on Netflix” (emphasis added). 

Sure sounds like you may one day find clips curated by your friends in your Netflix app’s vertical video feed, doesn’t it?

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