If Netflix Is the Future of Video Games, We're All Doomed — Opinion
As Xbox lays off 3,200 people and PlayStation ends physical disc production, Netflix's "Unhinged" move suggests the entire entertainment economy is desperately flattening itself.
A grim day for gamers. Coming out of a long holiday, the U.S. video game industry is facing a fresh wave of mass layoffs: Microsoft has announced it will cut 4,800 positions, including roughly 3,200 within the Xbox gaming division. The company says this is part of a broader restructuring following years of aggressive growth.
The news arrived right on the heels of another existential blow for people who still buy games off shelves. Last week, Sony announced it will stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation releases starting January 2028. Games released before that date will still get physical editions, but the console's future will no longer be built around traditional ownership.
Just a few years ago, Hollywood executives and Silicon Valley bosses were racing to invest in the limitless potential of interactive entertainment. Studios competed to adapt game franchises into film and TV, while tech giants spent billions hiring the world's best developers. Now, oddly enough, this week's only real gaming success story is coming from Netflix, a film-and-TV platform: with 'Unhinged,' the company is making its most visible interactive content move yet.
According to Alison Foreman's analysis, this "flattening" isn't accidental: after the post-pandemic digital media bubble burst, the entire sector is being squeezed into a single flat subscription, an "everything app" model. Open Netflix's home screen today and you'll find films, shows, podcasts, comedy specials, sports, animation, documentaries, and now games all mixed into the same flat feed. The simultaneous arrival of Xbox's layoffs and PlayStation's farewell to discs signals that the art of gaming is increasingly being reduced to a disposable "piece of content" in the modern entertainment economy. The author's conclusion is stark: if the future of video games is Netflix's flat feed, we're entering a far poorer age of entertainment.