Netflix seems to struggle to gain a foothold in the gaming industry. Despite the advance around two years ago, only 1% of subscribers use the gaming offer of the streaming giant. However, this development was expected, as Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters emphasizes.
The goal behind the push into the gaming sector is to unlock additional long-term revenue streams and thereby be able to focus on more than just acquiring new subscribers in future earnings calls. However, according to insider intelligence analyst Ross Benes, it is a challenge to convince existing subscribers to use the mobile game library, as more than three quarters of streaming service users use their subscriptions on a television screen.
Despite this, Netflix has made significant investments in recent years to establish a foothold in the gaming sector. As early as 2021, the streaming giant announced plans to offer titles as standalone apps for mobile phones, aiming to keep its subscribers entertained between TV series seasons. Netflix now offers 77 games, a threefold increase compared to the previous year.
However, the usage numbers of the games are sobering. According to data from the video analysis company Conviva, they are downloaded more than 70 million times worldwide, but only an average of 2.2 million users play one or more games from Netflix per day. In comparison to the peak of 2.7 million daily players in January of this year, the number of users playing Netflix games has dropped back below the two million mark.
Yet Netflix doesn't give up and even plans to turn more series like Wednesday, Black Mirror, and Squid Game into mobile games. Netflix's Vice President of Gaming, Mike Verdu, reports that the streaming giant has already started testing new games that can be played on any device. For games on the TV, users need either their mobile phone as a controller via the Netflix app on Android, or a separate controller-specific app through iOS.
Despite initial difficulties, Netflix continues to believe in the potential of the gaming sector. Co-CEO Peters emphasizes that commitment to gaming positively affects core business metrics, and hopes that it will become a natural way to play games, no matter where you are. He even compares the process to a toddler who first learns to crawl, then walk, and finally run - which is how he sees the development of Netflix's gaming division.
