In a recent earnings call (via Engadget), Netflix claims that their Games service has seen triple the engagement numbers in 2023 from previous years. Recent additions to Netflix Games have helped drive the spike, especially the Grand Theft Auto trilogy which is the most successful launch to date.
"While it’s still early days for our games offering, engagement tripled last year," the company claimed. "and despite games still being small, and certainly not yet material relative to our film and series business, we’re pleased with this progress."
The future of Netflix Games
Traditionally, Netflix's gaming options have been either interactive tie-ins to existing Netflix franchises, dialogue driven story games, or mobile-style games. Over the last couple of years though, that has quietly changed. With Grand Theft Auto, OXENFREE, and Dead Cells now among the Netflix Games options you do have some real quality options in the Netflix games library.
According to the company, some gamers have even signed up to Netflix just for the Grand Theft Auto games which could mean we see more and more recongizable game titles come to the platform in the near future. After all, that same earnings report indicates that the company's strategy moving forward is to increase value by improving their core business (tv series and film), while "broadening our offering (games, live and sports-adjacent programming)." Meanwhile the Netflix Games site boasts having "nearly 90 more games in development" on top of the existing 89.
It seems unlikely we'll get Cyberpunk 2077 running on Netflix, but we could see full Minecraft end up on the platform instead of the existing Minecraft: Storymode which would be a fun addition. After all, Hades and Sonic Mania Plus are scheduled to end up on Netflix in the near future so the options are nearly endless.
