On today’s episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, Variety’s Jennifer Mars discusses how acclaimed directors David Fincher and Zack Creger helped shape Netflix’s ambitious new feature “Unhinged.” This is a video game played like the TV series, with your smartphone as the controller.
“Unhinged” marks a level-up in Netflix’s creative ambitions for its series of video games. It was produced by Night School game studio, which Netflix acquired in 2021 to beef up its gaming efforts. Maas explains that Netflix wants to keep players hooked to their big TV screens for as long as possible, and “Unhinged” is designed to work as a hybrid between a game and a TV series.
“They’ve been experimenting primarily with mobile games, and just last month they launched FIFA World Cup games, which was the first big game you could play on TV,” Maas said. “And right after that, Unhinged came out. It’s a completely different genre than the FIFA game. But they’re both related in that what Netflix wants to do is let you play it on your TV or computer using your phone as a controller. So not only do you not have a traditional game controller, you’re not playing a mobile game.”
And in fact, the functionality of the mobile phone is utilized as part of the gameplay.
“One of the cool things they can do is use their phone like a phone during this game. You can make fake calls, send text messages, etc., but it’s still the remote that helps you get around,” Mars said. “They want to make it really easy for users to just get into the game and not worry about anything that goes into playing a traditional video game. They want to make it really easy for users to play games on their phones.”
Mr. Fincher and Mr. Creger, who got Netflix into the original content game with the drama series “House of Cards” in 2013, kept their involvement in the game secret until Mr. Mars announced their involvement. Otherwise, it’s understated in the credits for “Unhinged,” with both of them thanking each other at the end. The title also features notable stars Zoe Kravitz and Sadie Sink in voice roles.
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