Netflix just announced it will be adding another 40 games to its mobile gaming catalogue, bringing its library up to almost 100 games. The company first launched its gaming arm in 2021 at no extra cost to subscribers, which would be a bonus to subscribers, if anybody was actually playing the games - unfortunately, they weren’t.
In late 2022, it was reported that less than one percent of Netflix’s subscribers were actually playing the games on the platform, and I can’t blame them. At launch, Netflix had already flopped – now, it does actually have a few bangers on its catalogue, including Kentucky Route Zero, Oxenfree, Into The Breach, Immortality, Spiritfarer, and Before Your Eyes. Unfortunately, the rest of its catalogue isn’t nearly as interesting.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say the games on Netflix’s collection are bad, but they’re mostly a haphazard combination of games made with existing IP, and pretty typical mobile games. They have a big leg up on those in Apple’s App Store in that they don’t have microtransactions or ads, and they come included with a subscription you’re already paying for, but they still come across as mostly filler games. There are no fewer than three Stranger Things games, a farming sim, several match-three games, a baking game, a bowling game… So far, it’s been a disappointing showing from Netflix.
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There’s still a chance that it will be able to salvage this and get existing subscribers to actually use the games, if the new games it’s intending to add monthly aren’t filler as well. Netflix has a partnership with Ubisoft that will see the studio releasing three mobile games through Netflix Games, starting with Valiant Hearts: Coming Home and continuing with Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace and an as yet unnamed Assassin’s Creed game. Both Monument Valleys are coming to Netflix as well. It has around 70 titles in development with partners and 16 being developed by their in-house game studios, but Coming Home came and went with almost zero discussion, so this initiative isn’t starting with the strongest of steps.
Considering the sheer number of IPs it owns and distributes, it has a wealth of content to adapt from. Apart from the Stranger Things games, Netflix has also made a Too Hot to Handle role-playing game and another planned, and there’s a Queen’s Gambit game that was announced in 2022 but seemingly never materialised. Hopefully, they’ll have the good sense to make more, but right now it seems like they’re intending to add more indie games and narrative adventures – I’m hoping it pays off, because who doesn’t want good games on a service they’re already using?
However, if Netflix is intending to draw new subscribers through Netflix games, it’s got a long, long way to go. Presumably, the company hopes to make a profit from their venture into the games industry, and will eventually begin to try to get mobile gamers to subscribe to the service so they can be free from the plague of ads and microtransactions that currently riddle free-to-play games. Unfortunately, unless it begins to truly understand what it is that makes mobile games fun, Netflix games are going to remain sidelined.