Netflix is taking a step toward standardizing the identities players can use across its expanding catalog of games with an agreement to acquire Ready Player Me, a startup that offers cross-game avatars that follow you from one title to the next. The company indicated that it will allow subscribers to take a single, customizable persona into multiple Netflix Games releases, but the timing and launch titles are being kept under wraps.
What Netflix Gets With Ready Player Me For Its Games
Ready Player Me’s pitch is simple: one avatar, a billion games. Its tech has been designed to output a unique character capable of conforming to other art styles, rigs, and engines — typically through SDKs built for Unity and Unreal — so players don’t have to rebuild their look every time they install something new. Transplanting is based on shared platform roadmap conversations among the executives and involves settings to decouple identity from one studio or franchise as well as a variety of customization options.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed; the acquisition was first reported by TechCrunch. Backed by VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz and Endeavor, the Estonia-based startup has a small number of its leaders, including co-founder and CTO Rainer Selvet, set to join Netflix to aid in integrating the avatar stack. Ready Player Me also has its own web-based tools for content creation that will sunset as the technology is integrated into Netflix’s offering.
How Avatar Portability Could Transform Netflix Games
Portable avatars reduce friction. When a player can carry their digital self into every supported release, it increases time-to-value of onboarding, effective lifespan for customizations, and social acknowledgment over sessions. What that can do on the ground is lift day-one retention and conversion to repeat play — metrics that count for Netflix, where games are available to everyone who has a membership, so measuring success based on direct sales doesn’t make much sense.
The model would also be capable of supporting a cosmetics-first economy without resorting to bread-and-butter microtransactions. Netflix has said its games have no ads or in-app purchases; a single avatar allows the company to drop hints of rewards through quests, achievements, or show tie-ins, forming a loop between streaming fandom and gameplay. Picture one person collecting items by playing a puzzle game, then using them in a sports or party title — without having to start over.
Precedent exists throughout the industry.
- Meta’s avatars in various social and VR experiences
- Epic accounts that maintain game identity consistently across Fortnite platforms
- Roblox users retaining a look across user-created worlds
Of course, adding similar portability to a curated catalog by Netflix could give its lineup a more cohesive feel than most mobile game bundles.
Implementation Questions Developers Will Ask
Cross-game avatars are deceptively complex. Developers require impeccable rigging and animation retargeting, fast asset streaming for low-end devices, and performance budget-preserving tooling. Translation in style matters: a photoreal model should still feel intentional inside of a cel-shaded racer or blocky party game. The goal is to produce enough variations through Ready Player Me’s system that the appearances all adhere to a title’s art style direction while still maintaining continuity from game to game.
Safety and compliance are, too. A single avatar across games needs consistent age-gating, moderation pipelines for end-user-generated content, and privacy controls in compliance with local laws. Netflix’s family profiles and parental controls will have to be clearly translated into exposure of avatars and the sharing of items, particularly if those avatars show up in multiplayer or social settings.
The Bigger Picture For Netflix’s Games Strategy
The acquisition comes as Netflix hones in on how it develops and funds games. The company has been adding to its library with known brands like LEGO, Tetris, and Pictionary while overhauling internal studios and testing new development tools, including generative AI. It has halted some narrative projects tied to original series but remains in business with high-profile partners, including an announced soccer title with FIFA.
Analyst firms like Sensor Tower and Apptopia have reported strong cumulative downloads of Netflix Games, but engagement still represents a very small percentage of the streamer’s overall membership. A portable avatar layer could help close that gap by bringing some sense of continuity between each iteration and convincing users to play more games and come back more often. In an attention economy, continuity isn’t just a flourish; it’s a feature.
What makes the difference is when avatar support goes live, which games get it first, and just how deep customization gets. But the direction is obvious: Netflix wants a coherent, identity-based ecosystem that attaches its gaming slate together with the same gravitational force as its shows. Ready Player Me provides the technical backbone for that to be possible.
