By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) stock was up 2.7% in Thursday’s premarket trading amid increasing chatter it may add video games to its streaming platform.
A signal to this effect came Wednesday with the news of the company hiring Mike Verdu as vice president of game development, reporting to Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters.
Verdu was previously Facebook’s vice president in charge of working with developers to bring games and other content to Oculus virtual-reality headsets, according to Bloomberg.
Netflix plans to offer video games on its streaming platform within the next year, Bloomberg said. The games will appear with the existing portfolio as a new programming genre.
While the stock buzzes on the addition of new dimensions to streaming services by the company, it also got a little bump from an upgrade by UBS, which now has a target price of $620, 13% above its closing level on Wednesday. Analyst Eric Sheridan retained his ‘buy’ on the stock, according to StreetInsider.