Netflix subscribers aren’t playing Netflix games

Last year Netflix began rolling out a new service for subscribers, but so far only 1 per cent of users have used it.

Late last year, Netflix began rolling out a new service for subscribers called Netflix Games. Intended as a way to get users to stay subscribed between show releases, data shows that not many people are playing along at all.

Since the service rolled out, Netflix games have been downloaded at least 23 million times, retaining an average player base of 1.7 million.

That is less than 1 per cent of Netflix’s total subscriber base of 221 million, signifying that the vast majority of Netflix subscribers just don’t care about their games.

Netflix as a business has been struggling recently — speaking to shareholders last year, the company stated that it was finding it tough to compete with Epic Games and TikTok for people’s attention.

The foray into the games business is intended to be a way to compete, but the reality is that growing into a new business takes time.

“We’re going to be experimental and try a bunch of things. But I would say the eyes that we have on the long-term prize really centre more around our ability to create properties that are connected to the universes, the characters, the stories we’re building,” said Greg Peters, Netflix COO during an earnings conference call.

Some of Netflix’s games include tie-ins to their shows, such as Stranger Things: 1984. Picture: Netflix

The Netflix games catalogue currently holds 24 games, ranging from Stranger Things: 1984 to Into The Breach, with plans to expand the catalogue to 50 by the end of 2022.

“We’re open to licensing and accessing large game IP that people will recognise, and I think you will see some of that happen over the year to come,” Peters said.

Netflix’s push into games required some big spending, however. Recent acquisitions, such as the purchasing of Next Games, cost Netflix about $A100 million.

To that end, Netflix continues to express that this is more of an experimental test project and that the company isn’t pushing games for no reason.

“We’ve got to please our members by having the absolute best in the category,” said co-CEO Reed Hastings. “There’s no point of just being in it.”

You will have plenty of time to try some of Netflix’s games out, however.

The Witcher Season 3 paused production due to Covid-related concerns, and it is unknown when production will resume, so you have a lot of downtime to give Into the Breach a shot.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF