Netflix’s interactive ‘Trivia Quest’ will be far less creepy than ‘Bandersnatch’

Netflix is doubling down on interactive content today as it announces “Trivia Quest,” an animated quiz series that will debut on April 1. Daniel Calin and Vin Rubino of Sunday Sauce Productions developed a series of episodes that will come out every day in April, quizzing viewers with 24 questions per day.

It’s no coincidence that Netflix is creating a daily trivia game in a time when we’re still posting our Wordle scores every morning, or when absolute icon Amy Schneider broke records and made “Jeopardy!” destination television. So, Netflix licensed the game “Trivia Crack” from etermax to develop “Trivia Quest.”

A daily trivia show could be poised to go viral, if only people care enough to play every day. The trailer makes “Trivia Quest” look relatively juvenile, but the game will have both “standard” and “hard” questions — and we have to admit, we didn’t know the answer to the “Avatar” question in the trailer. There’s also a question about the Nintendo Wii in the trailer, and honestly, what child knows what a Wii is?

“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” was a breakthrough moment for interactive content on Netflix, but it’s been almost four years since its release. As Netflix invests more heavily in gaming — another form of interactive content — it seems that the company’s interests are shifting back to developing another interactive success.

The creators of “Black Mirror” released the cartoon “Cat Burglar” on Netflix just last week. By navigating through trivia questions, the viewer helps Rowdy Cat sneak past Peanut the Security Pup (incredible names here) to steal a painting.

Despite the major success of original shows like “Squid Game” and “Inventing Anna,” Netflix isn’t doing so hot. In 2021, the company had its slowest year of subscriber growth since 2015, and after delivering modest projections to investors, its stock plummeted. This is in part because competitors like Disney (which owns Disney+, Hulu and ESPN) and HBO Max are continuing to grow, threatening Netflix’s long-term leadership. So, gaming and interactive content are a big part of Netflix’s future strategy.

“We are open to licensing, accessing large game IP that people will recognize,” said Netflix COO Greg Peters as the company unveiled its results last quarter. “I think you will see some of that happen over the year to come.”

Netflix also recently acquired the gaming studio Night School and has developed games based on its own IP. Then, just yesterday, the company acquired Next Games, the publisher of “Stranger Things” and “Walking Dead” games, for $72 million. Depending on how “Cat Burglar” and “Trivia Quest” fare, we may see even more interactive content in the months to come.