What may be one of the most infuriating things about business is to have your role changed. While there is often value in such a change—entire industries have been built around accepting and benefiting from change; just ask the guy who wrote Who Moved My Cheese?. But sometimes, especially with multiple changes, it just does not work out. That is what happened to Netflix’s head of gaming Mike Verdu as his roles shifted once more. The news did not sit well with investors, however, as shares slid over 2% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
Verdu kicked off his role back in 2021 as the head of the video games division. That changed a few months back, as Alain Tascan was put into the role instead, and Verdu was shifted over to a new role that involved “…transformative innovation in game creation and development.” Okay, great…but then came November, when Verdu was once again shifted into a new role, this time where he would be “…vice president of generative AI for games.”
So, essentially, Verdu’s job has changed three times in roughly as many years, despite the fact that, under Verdu’s tenure, Netflix brought out over 100 different games, acquired several new franchises, and brought out its biggest success of all: Squid Game: Unleashed. Now, Netflix is reportedly set to be focusing on mobile games, as well as “…co-op party games…” that will be released on Netflix proper.
Kevin Conroy’s Last Ride
Fans of the DC animated universe will likely instantly recognize the name Kevin Conroy, who some consider the ultimate voice of Batman. His loss back in 2022, from cancer, left the community stunned. And he had a few roles slip out after his death, projects that were in the works before his passing, and we recently found out what the last one will be. Oddly, it will not be a Batman role.
Conroy is serving as the voice of VP Baines, who will be featured in the Devil May Cry anime that Netflix will be releasing. The trailer alone landed a million views in one day, and the anime itself will hit Netflix April 3. Oh, and Netflix even went so far as to confirm that no artificial intelligence (AI) was used in emulating Conroy’s voice at all. This is simply the last entry in the long and storied career of one of the greatest voice actors around.
Is Netflix Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on NFLX stock based on 27 Buys, 11 Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 46.76% rally in its share price over the past year, the average NFLX price target of $1,101 per share implies 22.92% upside potential.
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