Since announcing its foray into gaming last year, Netflix has launched a slew of mobile games, but most of its subscribers aren’t playing them yet.
In November 2021, Netflix announced the launch of its newest feature available on the mobile app: a gaming section included in its subscription at no extra cost. You can find the games in your Netflix app or through the app stores or play stores, as they are available to download and launch separately. However, a Netflix subscription is required to access the games.
This move implied a “customer retention and revenue diversification strategy” made by the streaming giant to attract its millennial and Gen Z consumers. Netflix has seen a massive dip in its subscribers — 200,000 in the first quarter of 2022, nearly one million in the second quarter — so it’s natural to see why the company wants to invest in more games than when it initially launched. It intends to double its catalogue by the end of 2022 and has even acquired three game studios: Boss Fight Entertainment, Night School Studio and Next Games.
Unfortunately, the gaming venture hasn’t hit the expected heights, as Netflix failed to appeal to its consumer demographics and continues to struggle to keep its subscribers. As CNBC reported, less than 1% of Netflix’s 221 million subscribers regularly play games on the streaming platform. This shows that 99% of Netflix users are not playing the games or are not adequately aware of this feature. A statistics report from Apptopia revealed there have been 23.3 million global downloads of Netflix’s mobile games, and on average, there are 1.7 million daily users—which implies less than 1% of its 221 million subscribers invest their time in Netflix’s gaming section.
What does Netflix’s gaming section offer?
The group of games Netflix has launched is a well-rounded bunch; a couple of card games, a couple of hyper-casual games, a racing game, a mini golf game, an endless runner, a match-3 game, a hidden object game, and a few others. Of course, there are the two Stranger Things adventure games, based on Netflix’s own IP.
Available on both the Android and iOS platforms, Netflix’s extensive collection makes it easy to find something everyone will enjoy. From the immaculate strategy game Into the Breach, Exploding Kittens card game, and the light-hearted, fun Dragon Up to the action-packed Moonlighter for your never-ending cycle of pleasure, Townsmen—A Kingdom Rebuilt, Relic Hunters: Rebels shooting game, heartfelt This Is A True Story, brick-breaking game Shattered Remastered, Hextech Mayhem and Stranger Things 1984 which finds inspiration by its namesake Netflix series. These games will offer you an adrenaline rush, utter madness, and an opportunity to experience magnificent glory.
To play a Netflix mobile game, subscribers can find them free in the streaming app in the dedicated games row. Once downloaded, only Netflix subscribers can play the games, which are available on Android and iOS devices.
Netflix, as reported by CNBC, seems to have made a wild guess given that its COO Greg Peters stated last year that the company was “many months and really, frankly, years,” into learning how games can retain users on the site. “We’re going to be experimental and try a bunch of things. But I would say that the eyes that we have on the long-term prize centre more around our ability to create properties that are connected to the universes, the characters, and the stories that we’re building.”
According to an Apptopia stat report, popular mobile games like Subway Surfers, ROBLOX, and Among Us each have over 100 million downloads, and prominent game publishers usually surpass over one million downloads within just a few days of launch. Compared to that, Netflix still has a long way to go to find success in the gaming niche. The gaming community does not see the streaming giant as appealing compared to traditional mobile games, PC, and console gaming platforms.
This might compel the authorities to put the gaming venture will on the back burner temporarily until it stabilizes its subscription tier with the new ad-based subscription as it hopes to continue expanding and become profitable.
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Words by Khushboo Malhotra