Netflix Gaming Is As Confusing As Ever

Yahoo

06-02-2025

In 2021, Netflix made the unusual move of purchasing Oxenfree maker Night School Studio. 'We're inspired by their bold mission to set a new bar for storytelling in games,' then-VP of game development Mike Verdu wrote at the time. Nearly four years later, Verdu is no longer head of development and Oxenfree, a bespoke, original supernatural coming-of-age indie adventure, feels like precisely the type of game Netflix is no longer interested in making.
The streaming platform best known for mega-hits like Squid Game and Stranger Things made a splash in the gaming world with high-profile but niche publishing plays for things like 2023's Oxenfree II: Lost Signals and 2024's Monument Valley 3. These were the types of games that had drawn buzz on console storefronts a decade prior and helped make the early App Store on iPhone synonymous with artful game design.
But the most notable result of the dozens of targeted deals and small studio acquisitions was a widely cited figure in 2023 stating that reportedly less than 1 percent of Netflix subscribers were actually playing the 'free' games included with their paid subscriptions. For many subscribers, the carefully tucked away games seemed to be out of sight, out of mind. Or maybe they were simply a poor fit for an audience who had already signaled they were there to watch Bridgerton and not solve adventure game puzzles. Former PlayStation exec Shawn Layden once compared the strategy to sticking coffee machines in cars.
Instead of games like Oxenfree finding a place to shine on the service, Netflix's most downloaded games have been the GTA Trilogy and Squid Game: Unleashed, a kind of gory reskin of Fall Guys. These were not the shiny indie objects that helped launch Netflix Games, but they appear to be its future. 'Going forward, we're focusing on offering best-in-class titles in a few key genres including immersive, narrative games based on our IP, socially engaging party games, games for kids and mainstream established titles (like Grand Theft Auto),' the company wrote in its letter to shareholders last month.
Co-CEO Gregory K. Peters elaborated in a fourth-quarter earnings call:
We've got fan favorites based on Netflix IP, things like Too Hot to Handle, Emily in Paris, Selling Sunset, and to our latest big release, Squid Game: Unleashed, which we really think validates our Netflix game formula, which is enabling this virtuous cycle between linear content and simultaneous game offerings.
And we are just scratching the surface today in terms of what we can ultimately do in that space. But we already see how this approach not only extends the audience's engagement with the universe and a story but also creates a synergy that reinforces both mediums, the interactive and the noninteractive side.
So based on all of those learnings and under the leadership of (sic) we continue to refine our strategy. And we're going to be focusing on more narrative games based on Netflix IP. These are consistent fan favorites and we've got a lot in the library to work with there.
This apparent retreat into licensed slop dovetails with Netflix's recent pivot away from a number of previously announced deals for adding an assortment of acclaimed indie games to its subscription library. Klei Entertainment's Lab Rat, Don't Starve Together, and Rotwood are no longer coming to the service, What's On Netflix reported last week. The excellent Thirsty Suitors isn't getting added either, and Crashlands 2 and Placid Plastic Duck were recently ditched as well. These moves come alongside Netflix's head of second- and third-party game development, Leanne Loombe, departing the company to help lead the recently rebooted Annapurna Interactive. She was the one in charge of getting Hades ported to mobile last year.
By themselves, these changes might just indicate slight tweaks to an evolving strategy, but in the context of recent layoffs and departures they give the impression of another tech giant that fumbled its way into games, got impatient with the slow-burn process of figuring it out, and then impatiently pivoted toward the lowest hanging fruit. Why woo indie darlings to your service when you can adapt the latest Netflix hit into a quick genre flip instead?
Nowhere does this retreat seem more evident than in the quiet shutdown of 'Team Blue' last fall. After spending the last few years poaching industry veterans from Overwatch, Halo, and God of War to work on a big-budget console game, Game File reported in October that Netflix had disbanded the team. It recalled Google's squandered attempt at in-house blockbuster development during the Stadia years, and Meta's recent closure of The Order 1886 studio Ready at Dawn just four years after acquiring it for its ambitious VR plans.
At the beginning of 2024, just a few years into its own gaming initiative, Netflix was already focused on how to make its gaming more profitable, including higher prices, adding microtransactions, and exploring in-game ads, The Wall Street Journal reported. By June, Verdu was being moved out of the top Netflix Gaming position to focus on 'the cutting edge of game innovation' instead. His official title is now VP of generative AI. Former Epic Games exec Alain Tascan took over as president of Netflix Games the following month. Putting the head of Fortnite in charge could signal that Netflix hasn't abandoned its bigger gaming ambitions, just recalibrated them. Or maybe its future is similarly an infinitely monetizable metaverse, this one of Netflix IP crossovers instead of pop stars and Marvel characters.
While Netflix's gaming footprint feels as shallow as ever, that doesn't mean it's worth completely writing off. Over 300 million people have subscriptions, even as the streaming platform keeps raising its price, and at any moment they can boot up the app and start playing some of the best games around like Kentucky Route Zero, Into the Breach, Terra Nil, Dead Cells, and Death's Door. Two of 2024's GOTY contenders, Arranger and The Rise of the Golden Idol, are just waiting to be discovered by people flicking through for the latest Too Hot to Handle spin-off.
There's a lot of potential there if Netflix can figure out how to make it work, or has the patience to keep trying to. For now, it seems much more interested in bringing more live events and sports to the broader Netflix streaming library then creating a home-grown, critically-acclaimed gaming hit. And how does Oxenfree III compete with the NFL? 'Netflix's Big Game Is Just Getting Started,' read a WSJ headline from December. They did not mean video games.
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