It’s been three and a half years since Netflix first began offering video games to its subscribers, though for much of that time you’d be forgiven for not being aware of that fact. To begin with, the service offered a few exclusives and eventually picked up the rights to heavy hitters such as the early Grand Theft Auto titles. Anyone with a Netflix subscription could access the already released mobile version of these games for free, via the app.

These were all fine extras to help keep subscriber churn down, but didn’t quite match up to Netflix’s investment and vocal commitment to gaming. The question being asked – particularly from within the games industry – was “what sort of games publisher does Netflix actually want to be?”

Well, we now have an answer and it’s one that suggests Netflix had its finger on a very different pulse to the one commentators expected. Far from trying to compete with major blockbuster games companies like EA or Ubisoft, Netflix has used its vast reservoir of user data to identify an active, devoted but underserved female audience and develop projects specifically for them, using its own IP.

The just-launched Emily in Paris game is a prime example. Based on the Netflix show about a young American woman working as a marketing executive in France, and part of the Netflix Stories umbrella brand, the game lets players create a new character in the world of the TV show, the digital editor of a fashion magazine, and decide how their story plays out. There’s a goal to aim for – they must build up 200 million social media followers or be fired – but that’s just a mechanism to drive the player to take part in scenarios they can “post” about, from the Cannes Film Festival to expensive dinner dates at the Eiffel Tower.

Like all good video games, it’s really a wish fulfilment simulator. It’s just the fantasy being offered is one of romance and social status instead of space soldiers and monsters. Emily in Paris is based on a scripted show, and while the genre is unusual, there’s nothing terribly new about games adapted from dramas. Where Netflix has really pushed boundaries is in its suite of similar Netflix Stories games based on unscripted dating shows such as Love is Blind, Perfect Match, and Too Hot to Handle.

The mechanisms are much the same, built on character interactions and dates that determine who your character ends up with. Customisation is also key, with costumes, cosmetics and even apartments that can be personalised by the player. Combining the gossipy scandalous twists of a reality show with a gamified structure that keeps players coming back every day, it’s an ingenious way of making gameplay elements conform to the selling points of a TV show rather than the other way around.

With new chapters and sequels to the games timed to drop alongside new seasons of the relevant show, it’s both content in its own right and a marketing tool all in one. And while dating shows and romantic comedies lend themselves most naturally to this sort of interaction, the announcement that a game based on the property series Selling Sunset is coming later this year is particularly intriguing. This feels like a format that could conceivably be adapted to work with almost any show, and the fact it works so well with unscripted reality shows opens up a whole new world of cross-promotional opportunities.

Netflix’s advantage, of course, is that having invested in its own internal games division it can now manage the whole process in-house, retaining complete creative control, bringing players to its shows, driving viewers to its games, and sustaining long-term engagement. It’s a model we expect the likes of Amazon and Disney are paying close attention to.