Key Takeaways
- Streaming giant Netflix first brought games to its mobile platform in 2021.
- Now, four years later, the streaming giant is introducing the option for users to play games on their TVs as part of a Netflix subscription.
- Game titles include Lego: Party and Boggle Party.
Netflix wants to make playing a party game as simple as streaming a show.
The streaming giant announced on Thursday that it is bringing video games to TV screens for the first time. The new games, which users can play with friends at no additional cost as part of a Netflix subscription, are currently available “on select TVs in certain countries, with plans to roll out further over time,” according to the company.
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said on Wednesday at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles that Netflix is actively “going after” games that users can play in groups.
“One of the big gaming areas we’re going after now is social gaming experiences that will show up on your TVs,” Peters told Bloomberg.
Related: Netflix Just Posted a Fully Remote Job That Pays $700K. Here’s What It Requires.
Users can play party games on a smart TV or one with a streaming device, such as a Roku, and use their phones as controllers by scanning a QR code. To begin, users scroll to the “Games” tab within Netflix on their TVs. Options include Boggle Party, where players have to find words in a scrambled letter grid; Pictionary: Game Night, where users guess what other players are drawing; and Tetris Time Warp, where a group of players tap into different eras of Tetris.
Further, the game, Lego: Party, a title that would normally cost $40, is also available for free and features minigames in the Lego universe.
Netflix previously brought five games to mobile devices in 2021, including arcade-style basketball game Shooting Hoops, puzzle card game Card Blast and physics puzzle game Teeter Up. Users just needed a Netflix subscription to play — there were no ads, additional fees or in-app purchases. Netflix has since expanded to more than 120 exclusive mobile games with the same no-ad philosophy.
Americans spent nearly $59 billion last year on video games, up more than 100% from $28.4 billion in 2014, according to data released by the Entertainment Software Association, Circana and Sensor Tower. Most players (78%) use mobile devices to play games, an increase from 44% ten years ago.
Related: Netflix Co-CEO Says the Company Used AI on a TV Show for the First Time: ‘Completed 10 Times Faster’
According to Bloomberg, Netflix plans to expand to four gaming areas: party games, games for kids, mainstream hits and games based on Netflix shows like “Stranger Things.” The streaming giant expects games to generate a total of $140 billion in consumer spending in the long term, according to independent research firm Zacks Equity Research.
Netflix has more than 300 million paying subscribers. A subscription costs between $7.99 and $24.99 per month, depending on the presence of ads, the streaming quality and the number of devices that can be used at the same time.
Key Takeaways
- Streaming giant Netflix first brought games to its mobile platform in 2021.
- Now, four years later, the streaming giant is introducing the option for users to play games on their TVs as part of a Netflix subscription.
- Game titles include Lego: Party and Boggle Party.
Netflix wants to make playing a party game as simple as streaming a show.
The streaming giant announced on Thursday that it is bringing video games to TV screens for the first time. The new games, which users can play with friends at no additional cost as part of a Netflix subscription, are currently available “on select TVs in certain countries, with plans to roll out further over time,” according to the company.
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said on Wednesday at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles that Netflix is actively “going after” games that users can play in groups.
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