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Doubt It has become a spectator sport in my house. When one of us is playing everyone crowd around the TV and the crowd either shouts to help or patiently waits their turn. Is shouting a lot. But it’s a game that my family can easily join in on, and once someone starts playing, it seems like everyone slowly moves into the room to join in. What’s surprising is that the experience is taking place entirely through Netflix.
The streaming giant has been trying to crack gaming for the past half-decade, and with the exception of a few rare hits grand theft auto And Squid Game: ExposedIt hasn’t made much of a dent. But with its relatively new TV games, which launched last year and include games like Doubt As well as party games based on everything from Lego knives outNetflix has finally figured out gaming that’s a good fit for the service. You don’t even need controllers: each player simply uses their own smartphone.
As Netflix expands beyond traditional TV and movie offerings, getting into everything from live sports to talent competitions with audience interaction, these types of games could eventually become a pillar of the service. And it all starts here Doubt.
The road to this point has been difficult. Netflix first started rolling out games in 2021, and at first, it seemed like a big deal. Games are included as part of the regular subscription, and at first the service offered a well-curated selection of mobile games. There were ports of beloved indie titles like sci-fi strategy games in violationAs well as exclusive titles like exhilarating adventure Laya’s horizon. These Netflix shows were based on games like queen’s stake And love is blind. If you were looking for high-quality games for your phone, Netflix was surprisingly a great platform.
The problem is that very few people took notice – early reports showed that less than 1 percent of customers actually played the game. That hasn’t stopped Netflix from trying. It invested heavily in the region, adding major games to the platform, acquiring developers, and at one point even tried to create its own AAA level studio. But there was no continuity and the strategy kept changing.
For example, last year Netflix’s president of games, Ellen Taskan, outlined four key pillars that would define the company’s gaming efforts, telling me that “we need to find our voice.” But there have been changes since then. The two games highlighted during that event in 2025 were Battle Royale Squid Game: Exposed and upcoming casual MMO spirit crossing; After this Netflix closed its studio spread out And spirit crossing To become independent, developer Spree Fox bought itself out from Netflix. Streamers have spent a lot of money solving the gaming problem, but have mostly met with failure. That AAA studio closed before releasing any games.
It’s not an easy place to compete in gaming. Other wealthy companies like Amazon have struggled to scale, and even massively popular games like Fortnite are struggling. The problem with Netflix, however, is that its gaming efforts always feel separate from everything else it’s doing. Hades It’s nice to have on my phone, but it’s also something I had to actively know about and seek out. It’s not something I could stumble upon while browsing Netflix, and it’s not something that will keep me in the main Netflix app, which is what the company wants.
But new TV games solve that problem. Before, Netflix games were separate apps that you downloaded to your phone. Now they’re found just like everything else on Netflix – there’s a tab at the top of the app with movies and television – which makes them feel like part of the service. my family can see wake up dead man and then play one immediately knives out-Later themed mystery game. Games are no longer a separate service operated by Netflix, they’re just part of Netflix.
TV Games appears to be off to a good start, but there are some things that need to be done before it can truly become a mainstay of Netflix. For one thing, they need some variety. There is great scope to expand offerings and reach different audiences. Netflix’s initial lineup of TV games has focused mostly on family-friendly party games, but the company has also found success with early narrative experiments like choose-your-own-adventure. black Mirror by-product Bandersnatch. stranger things-esque adventure game ox free Currently available on TV (acquired by Netflix). ox free developer Night School in 2021), which is a good first step towards broadening the scope of games available. There is a lot of room to grow.
Games also need to be made more widely available. Right now Netflix’s TV games are somewhat in beta, as they’re available on some platforms — mostly smart TVs and streaming boxes — but not all. For example, I can play games through Netflix on my Roku Stick, but not on my Apple TV. It will be important to make them a ubiquitous part of the platform, no matter what device you’re on.
Most importantly, Netflix needs to stick with it. This will not work if the company decides to change its strategy again in a few months. It has to give its customers time to realize that, hey, I can play games here too. The early years of Netflix games have been full of chaos, inconsistency, and throwing things against the wall to see if they’ll stick. Something has finally stuck – now Netflix needs to build on it.
- Netflix isn’t the only subscription service making changes to its offerings, as Apple Arcade has also been stepping back from indie titles recently, even though it was once a haven for premium-priced smartphone games.
- And then there’s also Microsoft and its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which has been going through changes, including a recent price cut (yes, a cut!) and the loss of some high-profile games.
- Although we don’t know how popular TV games are, Stephen Totilo game file Noted in April that Netflix’s controller app was topping the iOS charts.
- The launch of TV games last year was such a big deal the new York Times Wrote a great feature in which Taskan had this to say about the future of the service: “If we’re able to make it a more innovative, more accessible, frictionless experience, we’ll start getting new partners.”
- For a little more insight into how Netflix operates, I have an interview with its co-founder David Eddry spirit crossing Developer Spree Fox.
- Keza MacDonald, Games Editor Guardian (and author of an excellent book about Nintendo) wrote a great ode to Netflix’s recaps of past games, calling them the service’s “best-kept secret.”
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