Netflix's push into tie-in games now includes two weird Happy Gilmore titles

The Verge

2 days ago

Netflix seems to have finally settled on something resembling a strategy for its gaming efforts, and one of the key pillars is games tied to its shows and movies. That's how we got the likes of Squid Game: Unleashed and Black Mirror's Thronglets. Now, as Happy Gilmore 2 hits the streaming service, it's accompanied by a pair of games that show just how promotional Netflix can be.
The first game is actually pretty fun, though it's not really a whole game. It's called Happy Gilmore: Golf Mayhem '98 Demo, and it's exactly what it sounds like: a fictional long-lost demo of a golf game starring Happy that exists in the film's universe. It plays and looks like an old-school golf game at first. The twist is that you run over to your ball in between each swing, and there are things to do along the way, like collectibles to pick up or golf kart combat tournaments to partake in.
It's all rendered with a very '90s layer of polygonal polish and ends in a fistfight with Bob Barker that plays like a simplified Street Fighter. It's pretty short, with only one available hole to play, but the 'demo' really nails the Happy Gilmore tone. It's available on the web and select TVs as part of a beta at Netflix. (Here are some details on how and where you can play these games.)
The other game leans much more toward the advertisement end of the spectrum. It's called The Happy Gilmore 2 Tournament, and it's basically a little Flash-style golf game with three holes that, when you beat it, unlocks… a trailer for Happy Gilmore 2. The most interesting thing about the game is where you play it: it's available through Spotify's mobile app.
Netflix's plan for games hasn't always been clear. But earlier this year, Alain Tascan, the streamer's president of games, told me that it was going to focus on a handful specific pillars going forward. The idea was to 'readjust and focus on fewer areas with more intention,' like multiplayer games and kid-friendly experiences, rather than just trying everything to see what works. Another one of those focus areas was games based on Netflix's movie and TV properties, which is where the Happy Gilmore experiences come in.
These tie-in games are increasingly becoming straight-up promotional vehicles. When the third and final season of Squid Game hit Netflix, for instance, Squid Game: Unleashed got a big update that included characters and other elements from the new season. It's not unlike Superman appearing in Fortnite just as his movie hits theaters — or Roblox creators making their own Stranger Things games — except, in this case, Netflix manages the whole process and tailors the games and updates to the related property. Instead of making a regular Black Mirror game, for instance, Netflix turned a fictional game from a recent episode into something you could actually play. Often, these experiences are much smaller than what a typical licensed game would be, sort of like a digital version of a McDonald's Happy Meal toy.
We're likely to see more of these. Happy Gilmore 2 may not have the same global appeal as Squid Game, but it is a movie that people have been waiting for since 1996, and it's arguably Netflix's biggest film release of the summer, which makes it a good candidate for trying something different. There are plenty of opportunities on the way, from the end of Stranger Things to boxing matches and other live events, so it's unlikely the experimental tie-ins are done — though they might not be as weird as a fist fight with Bob Barker.
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