Netflix may have finally discovered gaming

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Confused It became a spectator sport in my house. Everyone gathers around the television while one of us plays, and the audience either helps shout out the words or waits patiently for their turn. There’s a lot of screaming. But it’s a game my family can easily enjoy, and once someone starts playing, everyone seems to slowly drift into the room to join in. The surprising part is that the experience happens entirely through Netflix.

The streaming giant has been trying to break into gaming for half a decade, except for a few rare hits like grand theft auto and Squid: Unleashed gamedidn’t make much of an impact. But with her TV games are relatively newwhich was launched last year and includes the likes of Confused Plus group games based on everything from Lego to… Knives outNetflix may have finally figured out which games make sense for the service. You don’t even need controllers: each player just uses their own smartphone.

As Netflix continues to expand beyond traditional TV and movie offerings, and into everything from… Live sports to Talent competitions with audience interactionthese types of games could eventually become one of the pillars of the service. And it all starts with Confused.

It’s been a bumpy road to this point. Netflix started rolling out games for the first time in 2021, and at first it seemed like a great thing. Games are included as part of the regular subscription, and initially the service offered a good selection of mobile games. There were ports of beloved indie titles such as Sci-fi strategy game In ragsin addition to exclusive titles such as Exhilarating adventure Horizon Leah. These sat alongside games based on Netflix shows like The Queen’s Gambit and Love is blind. If you’re looking for high-quality games for your phone, Netflix has been a surprisingly great platform.

The problem is that few people seem to notice – Early reports indicated that less than 1 percent of subscribers actually played the games. That didn’t stop Netflix from trying. It has invested heavily in this space, adding major games to the platform, acquiring developers, and at one point even Trying to build a AAA studio. But there was no consistency, and the strategy was constantly changing.

For example, last year Netflix’s head of gaming, Alan Taskan, has identified four key pillars that will define the company’s gaming efforts“We need to find our voice,” he told me. But there have been changes even since then. Two of the games highlighted during this event in 2025 were Battle Royale Squid: Unleashed game The next cozy MMO Soul crossing; since then Netflix closed the studio behind it Unleashed and Soul crossing Developer Spry Fox has purchased itself from Netflix In order to become independent. The streamer has spent a lot of money on the gaming issue, but has mostly met with failure. This AAA studio was shut down before it released any game.

Gaming is not an easy space to compete in. Just like other wealthy companies Amazon has largely struggled to make progressand Even very popular games like fortnite They struggle. But the problem with Netflix is ​​that its gaming efforts always seemed disconnected from everything else it was doing. Hades On my phone it’s greatbut it’s also something I had to know and actively research. It’s not something I could stumble upon while browsing Netflix, and it’s not something that would keep me in the main Netflix app, which is what the company wants.

But new TV games solve this problem. Previously, Netflix games were separate apps that you downloaded to your phone. Now they’re found in the same place as everything else on Netflix — a tab at the top of the app next to Movies & TV — making them feel seamlessly like part of the service. My family can watch The dead man woke up And then play right away Knives out– Mystery game themed next. Games are no longer a separate service run by Netflix, but rather just part of Netflix.

TV gaming seems to be off to a good start, but there are a few things that need to happen before it truly becomes a mainstay of Netflix. For one thing, they need some variety. There is great potential to expand offerings and reach different audiences. Netflix’s early lineup of TV games has Mostly focused on family-friendly party gamesbut the company has also seen success in early narrative experiments such as Choose your own adventure Black mirror spin off Bandersnatch. the Strange thingsAdventure-esque game Oxenfree Currently available on TVs (I got Netflix Oxenfree Developer Night School in 2021), which is a good first step in expanding the range of games available. There is more room for growth.

Games also need to be more widely available. Currently, Netflix TV Games is in beta, where it’s available on some platforms — mostly smart TVs and streaming boxes — but not all. For example, I can play games through Netflix on my Roku, but not my Apple TV. Making it a ubiquitous part of the platform, no matter what device you’re using, will be key.

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. You have to give your subscribers time to realize that I can play games here too. The early years of Netflix gaming were plagued by chaos, inconsistency, and a lot of throwing things at the wall to see if they would stick. Something has finally stuck, and now Netflix needs to build on it.