Netflix’s Mike Verdu reveals new role as VP of GenAI for Games

Mike Verdu has finally revealed his mysterious new role at Netflix: vice president of GenAI for Games.

Details of what this position actually involves are sparse, but in a LinkedIn post Verdu said he is “working on driving a ‘once in a generation’ inflection point for game development and player experiences” – with generative AI at the heart of it.

News of Verdu’s new role first emerged in June, shortly followed by confirmation that former Epic Games exec Alain Tascan would be taking over his previous role as president of Netflix Games.

In his LinkedIn post, Verdu urged peers to “pay no mind to uninformed speculation in the media about changes at Netflix Games,” emphasising that Tascan’s recruitment and his own new position had all be part of a “planned transition.”

In terms of what generative AI will do for games, Verdu said he believes the technology enables larger development teams to move faster and improves the capabilities of smaller teams.

“Many view this technology with fear, but I am a game-maker at heart and I see its potential to unlock all of us, to create mind-blowing new experiences for players, to lift us to new heights,” he wrote. “Yes, we’ll have to adapt and change, but when have we failed to meet that challenge as an industry?”

Netflix has been investing heavily in video games for the past few years, especially since first hiring Verdu in 2021.

The entertainment streaming firm has acquired multiple studios and opened two internal ones – although the company announced last month that it would be closing the California studio, which had been working on AAA games.

Netflix’s video games are only available on mobile so far, with lifetime downloads of the 100-plus titles passing 210 million in September.