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When Netflix first announced that I wanted to get into gaming, we all had our doubts. We don’t typically associate a streaming service with video games. However, it appears that the company has been making great strides in this area. According to the company, Netflix’s gaming business tripled last year. It also attributed its success to a particular game franchise.
Right now, the extent of Netflix’s gaming business stops at exclusive games on the Google Play Store and iOS App Store. Through Netflix, you’re able to play certain games like Sonic Mania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, World of Goo Remastered, Spiritfarer, Shovel Knight: Pocket Edition, and many more. There are actually some games developed in-house from Netflix’s own game studios.
As you can guess, you will need to have an active Netflix subscription in order to play these games. The cheapest Netflix plan you can get is the ad-supported plan that comes in at $6.99 a month. So, if you want to play these games on your phone, that’s the entry price.
Netflix’s gaming business tripled last year
The company announced this during its Q4 2023 earnings report. The report didn’t dive into specifics on how the gaming business performed. It did mention that engagement tripled compared to the year prior. This could mean that substantially more people downloaded them and played games through Netflix than in 2022.
We can attribute some of the success to Netflix aggressively pushing games to the public. However, much of the success came from one particular game franchise. In the report, it mentions that the GTA Trilogy is the most popular game downloaded through Netflix. It launched back in November, which means that it launched well into the fourth quarter of last year. So, rocketing to being the most downloaded game in such a short amount of time is impressive.
Netflix is still working on further expanding its gaming endeavors. We’ve gotten reports that Netflix wants to do something akin to cloud gaming where you can play games on different screens. For instance, if you have Netflix on a computer, you’ll be able to play games on that device. However, if you want to move it to a bigger screen and use your TV, you’ll be able to pick up where you left off on that game. Netflix is still testing this out on a limited basis in the US.