Netflix has also been offering games to its subscribers for a while now. However, so far, the response seems to have been very subdued.
According to Apptopia, Netflix currently only has around 1.7 million daily users worldwide for its games, which corresponds to less than 1% of the total number of subscribers. It is said that 23.3 million people have downloaded Android games from Netflix. Netflix currently has approximately 221 million subscribers.
Still, Netflix still sees gaming as an important area. Investors were recently told that ultimately they weren’t just competing with other streaming providers for customer attention. Short video platform TikTok and game store Epic Games were also named as central rivals. However, gaming for Netflix is currently just an experiment that doesn’t really get it on the right track, as adoption shows.
Netflix has even taken over game developers, but is currently limited to offering mobile games for Android. Perhaps one would be more successful if they offered cloud gaming or included basic games in the program as well. The streaming provider at least keeps the latter open. They are currently considering licensing well-known brands from major publishers.
Netflix wants to keep subscribers with games
We assume that many subscribers are unaware that Netflix even offers games. Because the respective Android games must be downloaded separately as individual applications. At least one wants to reach 50 titles by the end of the year, which should be part of the subscription. The goal is to anchor our own brands even better in people’s everyday lives.
At the end of the day, one may wonder if it would not be better to focus more on merchandise. Game development is time consuming and expensive. Netflix could also license its brands like “Stranger Things” or “Cobra Kai” further to outside partners, generating revenue and outsourcing risk.