How ‘Squid Game’ Became a Business Empire for Netflix, and Why Its Creator Jokes ‘I’m So Sick’ of ‘Squid Game’
It starts in the gift shop.
“Squid Game: The Experience,” an immersive entertainment installation that opened in October in a shuttered shopping mall near Madison Square Garden, brings its participants slowly into the dark, dystopian world of the South Korean drama series that exploded into a massive hit for Netflix in 2021.
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Players begin the journey in a room styled as a night market stocked with icons from the series and South Korean pop culture, including a ramen vending machine and a bar setup featuring the “Squid Game”-branded Johnnie Walker whisky tie-in. Participants who have shelled out $29 to $45 for the visit are given a green-gel wrist band; then they have their picture snapped and are assigned a player number, just like in the series. Once their time slot is called, groupings of 24 players move into the next room. And that’s when things get freaky.
“You watch the show, and you can’t help but start to wonder — how would I react if I were put in one of these situations,” says Josh Simon, Netflix’s VP of consumer products and live experiences. “The games in the series and the unscripted show are based on simple, well-known games that people play growing up, so the rules aren’t super complicated. It’s more about the pressure of that environment.”
“Squid Game: The Experience” is but one piece of an intricate puzzle of merchandise, contests, promotions and PR stunts that Netflix has unleashed in recent weeks to prepare viewers for the dawn of “Squid Game” Season 2 on Dec. 26. There was the biggest-ever game of Red Light, Green Light played in front of the Les Champs-Elysées in Paris on Dec. 1, the Season 2 world premiere held in Seoul Dec. 9, and a 4.56K race to compete for a seat at the U.S. premiere that took place Dec. 12 in Los Angeles.
The stakes are high. In 2021, the South Korea-produced drama became a global juggernaut for the streamer. But it took three years to get Season 2 in the can. That’s a long gap by any measure, especially at a time when there is no shortage of high-end shows vying for viewers’ attention. So Netflix has hit the gas on unusual and eye-catching promotions that befit the show, which revolves around the desperation of debt-ridden people who take part in a deadly elimination-style competition in hopes of winning the big cash prize. In addition to the one in New York, “Squid Game: The Experience” installations are running in Madrid and Sydney. Seoul will have its own early next year.
After “Squid Game” took off, Netflix predictably asked series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to craft another season. During the wait for Hwang to produce new scripts, Netflix tried to keep the cephalopod gold flowing with the 2023 competition series “Squid Game: The Challenge,” which didn’t match the buzz generated by the mother ship. On Dec. 17, Netflix launched the multiplayer mobile game “Squid Game: Unleashed” and made it free for everyone to play — a break from its usual strategy of paywalling the offerings of its still young gaming business to remain exclusive to Netflix subscribers. There’s also the VR adventure “Squid Game: Virtuals” and a raft of consumer products and brand partnerships — everything from a large Mattel doll based on the show’s iconic mechanical girl overlord (named Young-Hee, as we learned in Season 1) in the orange jumper and yellow Peter Pan collar to over-the-top Christmas sweaters emblazoned with “Squid Game” motifs. The deals are varied across every imaginable product offering, including Dominos, Xbox, Duolingo, Puma, Dos Equis XX, Carl’s Jr. and Olive Young.
The gigantic Young-Hee is among the first things players see when their number is called. If they land at the top of the scoreboard, savvy players might find themselves at a table set for two in the center of a dark room, surrounded by the dozens of competitors who have figuratively died up to that point.
Following challenges including the Red Light, Green Light competition steered by Young-Hee and the Glass Bridge walk, a player could come out on top and have just one round to go before following in the footsteps of series star Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) as the sole survivor of the deadly game.
As with the show, “Squid Game: The Experience” is not for the faint of heart. And no one is more surprised to see what “Squid Game” has wrought than Hwang.
“I had no intention of doing a second season, because the overall process of writing, producing and directing the series was so challenging. I didn’t think to do another one,” says Hwang. The writer-producer famously claims to have lost eight or nine teeth during production on the first season due to stress. Hwang says he only went through with a second season (which turned into Season 3 as well) because the “immense success” of Season 1 “gave me the courage and motivation” to add more.
As of early November, “Squid Game” Season 1 has drawn 330 million viewers and more than 2.8 billion hours viewed since its release on Sept. 17, 2021. Netflix touts the show as its most anticipated title of the year (despite its Dec. 26 debut being just days away from year’s end) and cites a 60% spike in Season 1 viewership following the release of the first Season 2 teaser on Oct. 31. Season 1 nabbed six Emmy Awards, including the best lead drama actor trophy for Lee.
Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s head of content for the Asia Pacific region, recalls that executives initially thought there was “a bug in our system” when the series started gaining traction around the world. The engagement numbers “were just going up and up and up,” she says.
“We had always expected ‘Squid Game’ to be one of the biggest shows in Korea and in Asia. It took about 10 days for it to start exploding elsewhere,” Kim says. “The right adjective that actually describes it is ‘surreal.’ And director Hwang was on the internet all the time; he would capture everything on any kind of dashboard that he sees, to see how many countries it’s going to be No. 1 in. We were all obsessed with a lot of those metrics, until we finally realized, ‘Oh, this is the biggest show in the world.’”
Although Season 1 was the definition of a sleeper hit, Netflix leaders in the U.S. also noticed early on that they had something with “Squid Game.” Simon was shocked in late 2021 when he spotted bootleg “Squid Game” merchandise for sale at a shopping center in Glendale, Calif.
“We had opened a ‘Stranger Things’ retail store [in Glendale], and across from our store, there was one of those mall kiosks that sells plush collectibles. All of a sudden, I saw a row of ‘Squid Game’ characters in track suits made of plush that were unauthorized by us,” Simon says. “The show had just come out, and we hadn’t started creating them yet.”
This time around, Netflix was not going to let anyone else lead the charge on helping “Squid Game” viewers “live out that fandom in real life,” says Simon. With the company’s increased focus on events and in-person activations — notably, it is building permanent entertainment and experience venues in Dallas and King of Prussia, Pa. — one of Simon’s biggest priorities ahead of Season 2 was getting “Squid Game: The Experience” up and running.
Simon and his team tested more than 100 games before landing on the “Squid Game: The Experience” lineup, which varies based on territory. Hwang was looped in on these ideas, as well as the unscripted series, the video game and the numerous product tie-ins Netflix is rolling out, but says he’s more focused on finishing the original show out strong. He is also consulting on ideas for expanding the franchise on screen.
“There are certain projects that are currently being made where they ask for my opinion a little bit more actively,” Hwang says. “So as far as I know, going forward, there’s going to be even more creative projects that come from the ‘Squid Game’ universe, some of which I will be more involved in.”
Seasons 2 and 3 of “Squid Game” were written and shot back-to-back. That filming schedule will allow for Netflix to release Season 3 next year. Star Lee Jung-jae says he wants the final chapter to debut as soon as possible.
“The ending is something you really cannot expect,” Lee teases. “I am looking forward to what kind of interpretations viewers have.”
Internally, Netflix is already preparing its campaign for the series finale across divisions. The scripts for Season 3 were shared with the team behind video game “Squid Game: Unleashed,” which debuted Dec. 17, early in the development process so they could get a jump on updates to the game both for post-Season 2 launch and for when Season 3 arrives.
Of course, there is no shortage of interest within Netflix around whether Season 2 can come close to the heights of the show’s maiden voyage. Kim says she feels the pressure that is weighing on Hwang, though she promises that Netflix made sure “he did not lose any teeth” during the filming of Seasons 2 and 3.
And once he’s done with postproduction work on Season 3, Hwang is ready for a long break from the cutthroat and compelling game that sprang from his imagination. It’s not easy to immerse yourself in a dystopian vision of modern society — which might be a handy warning for those considering a voluntary visit to “Squid Game: The Experience.”
“I’m so exhausted. I’m so tired. In a way, I have to say, I’m so sick of ‘Squid Game,’” Hwang says in a moment of candor. “I’m so sick of my life making something, promoting something. So I’m not thinking about my next project right now. I’m just thinking about going to some remote island and having my own free time without any phone calls from Netflix.” Hwang is quick to clarify: “Not the ‘Squid Game’ island.”
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