If you want to help the ‘Cat Burglar’ steal the painting, you’d better brush up on your trivia.
If you are, for some reason, looking for a distraction right now, Netflix (NFLX) – Get Netflix, Inc. Report has just unveiled the interactive special “Cat Burglar,” its latest push into the gaming world.
“Cat Burglar” follows the adventures of Rowdy The Cat as he attempts to steal a priceless painting from Peanut the Security Pup.
If you want him to avoid capture and crack a safe, you will need to make your way through three rounds of trivia questions, which are both witty and sometimes a bit tough. Hint: it might pay to brush up on former British Prime Ministers.
There’s enough violence and jokey questions about being drunk for the game to earn its TV-14 rating, so it’s definitely not for younger kids.
The game is homage to the zany, visual-gag world of Tex Avery’s “Looney Tunes,” and one bit with multiple old-fashioned cannons feels like an explicit homage to the type of shenanigans the Wile E. Coyote once got up.
Each play-through takes up to 15 minutes, or however long it takes you to kill off Rowdy’s remaining three lives. Rowdy notes that he’s not a lucky cat. There’s about an hour’s worth of story to explore, and there’s six main endings, all of which are meant to induce players to keep coming back.
The game comes from “Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, and shows the same flair for genre pastiche as the cult show, but at least during some early play throughs, the game didn’t have Brooker’s signature paranoia about technology ruining society.
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How Do You Play “Burglar Cat”?
You can play the game straight through your TV, if you have an advanced (i.e. newer) smart television. But if you don’t, you can also play it via laptop, mobile device or tablet.
The game is included with your regular Netflix subscription, so you can start playing a few rounds on your iPhone during your lunch break right now, if you need a break from doom scrolling.
People across the world can enable Rowdy’s crimes, as “Cat Burglar” is available in nine languages, with each round of trivia tailored to the chosen tongue.
Netflix Is Playing Games
This isn’t Netflix’s first foray into interactive, choose-your-adventures style programming.
In 2018, Brooker and Jones developed the immersive spin-off of their signature show “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” about a video game creator who might be going mad.
Last year saw a more comedic iteration with the Tiny Fey-produced “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend,” a spin-off of the Netflix sitcom, and for the kids there is the “Shrek” spin-off “Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale.”
Those specials depended on the viewer making plot choices for the main character that dictated how the story turned out.
But “Cat Burglar” is the first special that has a trivia component baked-in, and it’s a sign that the streaming giant is making a concerted effort to make viewers associate it with game play.
Last year Netflix partnered with Montreal-based RocketRide Games to bring more games to its mobile platform, and introduced the mix-and-match game “Dominoes Café” and the puzzle game “Knittens.”
Netflix has indicated that more mobile games as well as trivia games are in the offing, but so far the company haven’t released any more details about what they might be or when to expect them.
Netflix has been dealing with a few headaches lately, and while gaming alone isn’t likely to fix them, it does indicates that the company is looking for innovative solutions.
Netflix saw a slowdown in subscriber growth last quarter, as Covid-19 pushed thousands of home-bound stragglers to sign up for the service boom wore off, and experts began to wonder if the company had hit its natural ceiling on subscribers.
All the while, studios such as Paramount (VIAB) – Get Viacom Inc. Class B Report and Disney (DIS) – Get Walt Disney Company Report have begun to move their library of content off of Netflix and onto their own streaming services.
That was recently the case with the Marvel TV shows that Disney produced for Netflix and which will be leaving the service at the end of this month.
This all puts pressure on Netflix to keep developing, and acquiring, material to keep viewers engaged.
The broader push into gaming indicates that the streamer is being creative with how it finds new customers, and entices subscribers to not churn out, cancel their account and see what’s going on over at Disney+.
So while “Cat Burglar” might be fun and games while you’re killing time during your commute, to the streaming service it represents something much more serious.
