Netflix to Get Minecraft: Story Mode but Has 'No Plans to Get Into Gaming'

Netflix is getting Minecraft: Story Mode. It’s an episodic adventure set in the Minecraft universe developed by Telltale Games consisting of two seasons that released on Android, iOS, Apple TV, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, macOS, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Soon, it will find its way to Netflix. That said, it will take the form of an interactive narrative story similar to existing interactive shows like Puss in Book instead of a fully fledged game. Furthermore, it won’t be the two seasons of Minecraft: Story Mode in their entirety, instead the content would be restricted to five episodes. It will be available this Fall.

In addition to this, Telltale is working on an adventure game based on Stranger Things for PC and consoles due at a later date.

The news was first reported by Techradar citing sources familiar with the matter. Netflix then confirmed it with the following statement:

"1. We can confirm Minecraft: Story Mode is a licensed 5-episode interactive narrative series coming to our service this fall. It's an extension of our other interactive stories we have on our service like Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout, Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale and Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile.

2. The Stranger Things project is being published by Telltale at a later date, not on the Netflix service. It's part of our marketing and title promotion efforts.

3. We don’t have any plans to get into gaming. There’s a broad spectrum of entertainment available today. Games have become increasingly cinematic, but we view this as interactive narrative storytelling on our service."

Telltale Games issued its own statement on the matter.

"We're delighted by the response we're seeing to the idea of Minecraft: Story Mode coming to Netflix in the Fall as an interactive adventure, and separately, we're thrilled to confirm that Telltale is developing a game based on Stranger Things that we'll publish to consoles and computers at a later date. Our partnership with Netflix is something we're incredibly proud of, and while we don't have anything more to share right now, we're excited to reveal details on these projects later in the year."

With Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot, EA’s Andrew Wilson, and Xbox’s Phil Spencer talking up the future of gaming being streaming at E3 2018, it will be interesting to see how this is received despite Netflix’s claims that it has no plans to get into gaming. The company already has 125 million subscribers and it’s safe to say a fair number of them play video games anyway, making this a relatively frictionless way to keep its user base from moving to another service.

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