Less than 1% of Netflix subscribers are playing the service’s games

By Cristina Alexander August 8, 2022

Netflix has launched a slew of mobile games since it announced its push into gaming last year, but most subscribers aren’t playing them yet.

According to data from app analytics company Apptopia (via CNBC), Netflix’s games have been downloaded 23.3 million times and are played by 1.7 million subscribers daily. That’s less than 1 percent of the 221 million people subscribed to Netflix worldwide.

This report comes as Netflix faces growing competition from other streaming platforms to retain subscribers. Netflix lost over a million subscribers in the second quarter after reporting a loss of 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter in April — its first decline in over a decade.

When Netflix Games launched in November 2021, it had a small offering of five games, including Stranger Things: 1984, Stranger Things 3: The Game, Shooting Hoops, Card Blast, and Teeter Up. The games catalog has since increased to over two dozen titles, including Poinpy, This is a True Story, Exploding Kittens: The Game, the League of Legends spinoff Hextech Mayhem, Into the Breach, and Before Your Eyes.

Netflix is currently working to add more games to its catalog, including The Queen’s Gambit chess game, a Shadow and Bone RPG, a “choose your own adventure” called Too Hot to Handle, and a heist game based on La Casa de Papel (or Money Heist). It aims to have 50 games on the platform by the end of the year. To hit that goal, it has acquired three indie game studios, including Boss Fight, Next Games (which already created games based on Stranger Things and The Walking Dead), and Night School Studio, the creator of Oxenfree.

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Cristina Alexander

Gaming/Mobile Writer

Cristina Alexander has been writing since 2014, from opining about pop culture on her personal blog in college to reporting…

Gaming

You can compete in the Olympics eSports Series by playing a $1 baseball game

A pitcher holds a ball in WBSC Baseball Power Pros.

A $1 baseball game shadow dropped by Konami during a Nintendo Direct, WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros was a very odd release in February. That said, the purpose of its launch and low price point is becoming clearer as the International Olympic Committee revealed that it's one of the featured games in its Olympic Esports Series 2023 lineup.
WBSC eBASEBALL: POWER PROS - Launch Trailer - Nintendo Switch
Starting this month, players can start competing in featured games like Power Pros to qualify for the Olympic Esports Finals 2023, which will take place at Singapore's Suntec Centre between June 22 and June 25. A more arcade-like and low-poly take on the sport than something like MLB The Show 23, Power Pros was a fairly small-scale and simple game that mainly stood out because of its low price point. Clearly, its international baseball focus and approachability enticed the IOC, who've decided to elevate its esports status.
Esports has been popular for quite a while, although the most popular esports titles are games that can't really be emulated in real life, like Starcraft 2, League of Legends, Call of Duty, and Fortnite. The IOC is taking a decisively different approach with its esports competition, instead choosing to include games that emulate real-world sports, with the IOC calling it a "virtual and simulated sports competition." That ultimately results in an unexpected esports game lineup that also consists of Tic Tac Bow (archery), Virtual Regatta, Virtual Taekwondo, Zwift (cycling), Gran Turismo (motorsport), Just Dance, Tennis Clash, and Chess played on Chess.com.

This unorthodox approach to esports is why a Konami game like Power Pros, which came out less than a month ago, isn't the most in-depth baseball simulation out there, and only costs $1, made the cut. Still, there is something exciting about the barrier of entry for an official Olympic competition being this low.
WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros is available now for PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Gaming

Multiversus’ 99% player drop is a lesson in how not to make a free-to-play game

Bugs Bunny holding a pie in Multiversus.

When Warner Brothers' Super Smash Bros.-like fighting game Multiversus launched last year, it was an immediate success. Players flocked to the free-to-play game in its first few months, battling it out as their favorite WB characters. It seemed like the publisher had a rare hit on its hand, breaking through to the mainstream with a genre that's long been painted as a difficultyniche with a high barrier for entry.

MultiVersus - Rick Reveal

Gaming

PlayStation VR2 adds even more games to its launch lineup

Gameplay from Sushi Ben, an upcoming PlayStation VR2 game.

Sony has finalized the launch lineup of the PlayStation VR2 headset just before its February 22 release. With that comes the confirmation of the new games coming to the PSVR2 platform throughout the rest of 2023, including a sequel to a critically acclaimed PlayStation VR title, as well as many exciting ports.

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