As part of the Hulu "Friends with Benefits" initiative, Hulu and Xbox have announced a partnership deal that provides existing U.S. Hulu subscribers with three free months of PC Game Pass. The decision to target gamers comes on the heels of Netflix's entry into the gaming market, where the streaming service has included a number of ad-free mobile games as part of its subscription service.
However, Hulu and Xbox's offer is only available for a limited time and is not a new gaming initiative. According to the companies, the current offer is valid until July 23, 2022 and is only valid for PC Game Pass, not Game Pass Ultimate. It can also only be redeemed by Hulu subscribers in the United States who are new Game Pass subscribers.
This appears to be the first time Hulu has struck a deal with a gaming company of this nature. In 2020, Xbox collaborated with Disney's other streaming service, Disney+, to provide Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers with one free month of Disney+.
"At Hulu, every decision we make starts with the viewer," Hulu said in a statement. We do this through the stories we tell, as well as by allowing Hulu subscribers to interact with their favourite shows, films, and brands through select perks and activations, such as the 'Hulu Friends with Benefits' initiative, which is Hulu's way of saying thank you for simply being a fan—because that's what friends are for."
Normally, PC Game Pass costs $9.99 per month, so this deal allows PC gamers to try out over 100 different games, including Minecraft, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5, Halo, and access to EA Play games like The Sims 4, It Takes Two, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. PC Game Pass also provides access to many new games on the same day they are released in stores. In its announcement, Xbox stated that more games would be released in the next three months.
While most gamers prefer to play on consoles, there are a surprising number of PC gamers. According to Statista, there are 1.77 billion of them worldwide, with the number expected to rise to 1.9 billion by 2024.
Insider Intelligence, on the other hand, believes that the number of PC gamers will continue to decline until 2022, when mobile games will take over. This could explain why Netflix chose mobile games over PC games. Another strong competitor in the gaming space is mobile gaming, and Netflix has catered to this demographic of more casual, on-the-go gamers. Netflix's mobile games have been downloaded more than 8 million times since their release, according to Apptopia.
Netflix announced its only first-person shooter title, Into the Dead 2: Unleashed, in March, which could broaden its appeal to more gamers. Furthermore, Business Insider cited an older Netflix job listing that may have hinted at the company's plans to expand into console and PC gaming. The job description stated that the ideal candidate "has shipped three or more console or PC games as an engineer or equivalent."
Its League of Legends animated series "Arcane" was a success for the streamer, so it's no surprise that its game Hextech Mayhem, licenced from developer Riot Games, has had some success, with 58 percent of League of Legends fans in the United States more likely to subscribe to Netflix than other streaming services, according to Interpret data. Fifty-five percent of all gamers subscribe to the streamer, while 27 percent and 16 percent choose Hulu's ad-supported and ad-free tiers, respectively.
Netflix has 221 million global subscribers and recently disappointed shareholders by losing 200,000 subscribers in its quarterly earnings report. Total combined subscriptions for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ in Q2 2022 exceeded 205 million, with Hulu accounting for 45.6 million of those.
While there is no indication that Hulu will follow Netflix down the gaming rabbit hole, it is interesting that more streaming services have begun to follow each other down the gaming rabbit hole.