Netflix and Microsoft show that video gaming has become too big for tech giants to ignore

The business of video games is having a moment.

Less than two weeks after Take-Two announced its $12.7 billion for Zynga, and just days after Microsoft announced its record-breaking $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Netflix co-founder and co-chief executive officer Reed Hastings said Thursday that building out video gaming to where Netflix can “amaze our members by having the absolute best in the category” is his goal.

“We have to be differentially great at it,” Hastings said during Netflix’s earnings conference call. “When mobile gaming is world leading, and we’re some of the best producers, like where...