Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Sabrina or Ozark? Netflix has secret games in store for E3

Gabe Gurwin
By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Netflix continues to invest in interactive entertainment, both through choose-your-own-adventure episodes of shows likeBlack Mirror and full-fledged video games like Stranger Things. The company will make an appearance at E3 2019, and it still has some unannounced adaptations that it will be showing off. The question is, of course, just what will they be?

Speaking to the official E3 account on Twitter, Netflix’s science-fiction account NXOnNetflix revealed that it will be hosting its own panel at E3 in June. The panel will be called “Bringing Your Favorite Shows to Life: Developing Netflix Originals into Video Games.”

Recommended Videos

How does this sound:
"Bringing Your Favorite Shows to Life: Developing Netflix Originals into Video Games"?

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) May 13, 2019

Related

Stranger Things was confirmed to make an appearance during the panel, with the account adding that there is “more to come.”

Presumably, this means that a video game adaptation of at least one more of Netflix’s original series will be announced at E3. Stranger Things was turned into an isometric action game similar to those popular in arcades during the time when the show is set, but this likely wouldn’t work for other Netflix series.

An action series based on Ozark or a point-and-click adventure inspired by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina seem like good choices. We are very unlikely, however, to see anything based on the Netflix Marvel series, which were canceled in advance of Disney launching its Disney Plus streaming service.

Netflix already has some other experience with television and video games, but not in the way you might expect. The Telltale series Minecraft: Story Mode was brought to the streaming service. Taking the adventure gameplay of the original release and turning it into an interactive television show, it offered a different way to experience the humor and story for those unfamiliar or uninterested in traditional video games.

Among Netflix’s latest interactive programs is You vs. Wild, starring Bear Grylls. In the series, you make choices to help the legendary outdoor expert survive in the wilderness, and each episode takes place in a vastly different environment. Naturally, it’s the most fun to figure out how to make Grylls do something silly.

The latest Stranger Things game sequel, Stranger Things 3: The Game, is scheduled to release on July 4 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile devices.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Ubisoft will not attend E3 2023, but it will still host a summer live stream
Basim showing off his hidden blade.

Ubisoft will no longer be attending E3 2023, even though it said it would participate in February. Instead, the game publisher behind Assassin's Creed and Far Cry plans to hold its own Ubisoft Forward Live event in Los Angeles this June.
Ubisoft confirmed its change in plans to Video Games Chronicle today, with a spokesperson saying that while Ubisoft "initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we've made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction." This is a change in messaging from just over a month ago when Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, "If E3 happens, we will be there, and we will have a lot of things to show."
What caused this change of heart in Ubisoft is unclear. However, it seems like the company found that it could still successfully promote its game lineup without being attached to the Entertainment Software Association's event. We don't know much about the Ubisoft Forward Live event other than it'll take place on June 12 in Los Angeles, but Ubisoft tells VGC that "we look forward to sharing more details with our players very soon."
This puts E3 2023 in a weird overall spot, as we currently know more about the companies that won't be at the event -- like Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Nintendo -- than we do about the publishers that will actually be there. After being canceled in 2020 and 2022 and being digital-only in 2021, E3 2023 was supposed to be the annual gaming trade show's grand return. Right now, though, the relevance and viability of E3 2023 are questionable.
ReedPop has not yet commented on the fact that Ubisoft is no longer attending E3 2023. 

Read more
Nintendo confirms that it won’t be part of E3 2023
Pikmin and Bulborb in Pikmin 4.

Nintendo has confirmed reports that it won't be participating in E3 2023, meaning the gaming trade show will be missing one of its key vendors when it returns in-person this June.
"We approach our involvement in any event on a case-by-case basis and are always considering various ways to engage with our fans," a Nintendo spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. "Since this year’s E3 show didn’t fit into our plans, we have made the decision to not participate. However, we have been and continue to be a strong supporter of the ESA [Entertainment Software Association] and E3."
After taking 2020 and 2022 off and being digital-only in 2021, this year was supposed to mark the grand return of E3, which was once a dominant game industry trade show that attracted every big video game company. Although Sony hasn't participated since 2019, it still came as a shock in January when IGN reported that both Nintendo and Microsoft would not be attending E3 this year as well. It appears that the report is true, as Microsoft has not confirmed any E3-related events outside of its independently run Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.
Nintendo skipping E3 2023 not only takes away a vendor that dominated the show floor in previous years, but also raises questions about whether or not the company will hold an exciting Nintendo Direct around then. While Nintendo typically holds a big showcase with lots of first-party game announcements around June every year, in 2022 it only held a third-party driven Partner Showcase in June. Now that we know it won't be at E3 2023, we're left to wonder when exactly then next big Nintendo Direct will be. 
E3 2023 will take place between June 13 and June 16, but don't expect Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft to have a big presence there.

Read more
Here’s what E3 2023 could look like without Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft
Playstation character wall at E3 2018

Let's start with the good news: E3 2023 will be held in its in-person format once again after three long years of digital events necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time with ReedPop at the helm. The bad news is that Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo -- gaming's "Big 3" -- may not show up at the industry’s biggest convention this summer.

This is according to a report from IGN citing multiple sources, who claimed the companies won’t be a part of the show or make appearances on the floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center in any way. Their absence from this year’s E3, especially Nintendo’s, may come as a shock to the gaming community, but it's not such a surprise when looking at the past few iterations of E3. Even before the pandemic locked everyone down in 2020, Sony and Xbox had been hosting their own E3-style livestreams, so it was more likely they would do it again this year anyway. Nintendo, on the other hand, managed to show off its upcoming games via Nintendo Direct streams and at its booth, console kiosks and all.

Read more