Haptic feedback has been a feature in video games for many years now. Just about anybody who plays games regularly has experienced the classic controller vibrating effect many developers take advantage of during shoot-outs, explosions, and other high-intensity situations.
Now, it seems Netflix's engineers want to borrow the idea for their own platform. As part of the company's latest Studio Hack Day, employees "channeled [their] creative energy" toward "Project Rumble Pack."
"You're watching your favorite episode of Voltron when, after a suspenseful pause, there's a huge explosion --- and your phone starts to vibrate in your hands,"
Project Rumble Pack is intended to make Netflix content feel more engaging for mobile viewers by vibrating their device at key moments. "You're watching your favorite episode of Voltron when, after a suspenseful pause, there's a huge explosion --- and your phone starts to vibrate in your hands," Netflix writes in a blog post. "With every explosion, sword clank, and laser blast, you get force feedback to amp up the excitement."
Obviously, "excitement" is a fairly subjective term. While some viewers would absolutely love a feature like this, there's a decent chance it would simply annoy others: those who tend to watch their favorite shows late at night or in bed, for example.
However, the idea is just an experiment for now, and if it ever does roll out to Netflix proper, it will most likely be an optional toggle – it doesn't seem very likely that the streaming giant would force such a jarring idea onto all of its users.