Now Nobody Will Remember When Netflix Had Great, Free Games

Gizmodo

7 days ago

For several years, Netflix offered subscribers the ability to play some truly great games on their phones. No matter what tier they paid for, subscribers could play games like Hades and the original three 3D Grand Theft Auto titles from the PS2 era. Netflix did such a poor job of letting subscribers know it was available, and now the good times are coming to an end. Some of the best games promoted by the streaming service will exit stage left in less than a week's time.
Netflix is planning to drop all three Monument Valley games alongside indie darlings like Braid: Anniversary Edition, Hades, and Katana ZERO. Other odd, time-sucking mobile games like Rainbow Six: SMOL are ending as well. Some games, like Hades, will no longer be playable on July 1, though other games will take longer to meet their demise. Some players had very little time to spend with these titles. Monument Valley 3 has only been playable on Netflix since 2024. Engadget first reported on the full list of games leaving the platform, though we don't have exact dates for when every game will call it quits. We reached out to Netflix to confirm how many games are leaving and when, and we'll update this post when we hear back.
The full list includes:
Some of these games, like Poinpy, Katana Zero, and Death's Door, may make it to mobile as premium titles, or at least that's according to publisher Devolver Digital in a statement to The Verge. Either way, it's a sign Netflix's gaming arm is further heading in the wrong direction, especially since so few customers even know the streamer has a division focused on games. The gaming titles show up front and center on the Netflix phone app, though despite its broad selection of games available free to subscribers, customers either didn't know or didn't care for the streamer's gaming offerings. Part of the issue was marketing. Netflix initially struggled to show players where to get these games. Users had to search in the Google Play Store or iPhone App Store to procure these titles. Then, even as Netflix threw money at studios like Night School, the developers of Oxenfree, and ported games like Street Fighter IV and Civilization VI to mobile, it still struggled to let users know the platform had any games available.
The streamer's gaming arm took a major shift earlier this year. It reportedly closed down a 'AAA' studio helmed by industry veterans and laid off the staff at Night School just two years after acquiring it. Netflix brought on former Epic Games VP of game development, Alain Tascan, who told The Verge the platform needed to 'find its voice.' That meant focusing on tie-in games based on Netflix reality shows, party games, and games for kids. In April, Netflix promoted Thronglets, a game based on the show Black Mirror. There's no word if this change in plans will affect development of cozy life sim Spirit Crossing, an original title by Spry Fox—a developer Netflix acquired back in 2022.
I have not played Thronglets or other tie-in games like Squid Game: Unleashed, but that's because the games don't interest me in the slightest. There may be a market for interactive fiction based on Netflix's reality shows, but without any unique titles that hit at the gamer crowd, will Netflix be able to truly market itself as a gaming platform?
Netflix started its game journey with a heap of money but without a solid plan to use it. Tascan has said he wants to make some of these games playable directly from the Netflix app, rather than needing to download and play them separately. The only version of Hades available on mobile could not fit that bill, unfortunately. What made Netflix's gaming so nice was that it greatly limited the overt nickel-and-diming that plagues most mobile titles in favor of easy, streamlined experiences. The streamer failed to let subscribers know these titles were available. Now, those same customers will never know they missed out.