Netflix brings video games to its TV service for first time

The company has been offering games for four years, part of a plan to extend its reach beyond films and TV shows. Until now, users had to play those games on mobile devices. With the new ones, subscribers will use their phones as controllers, but much of the play will be on the big screen.

Peters has taken the lead on pushing Netflix into games, a lucrative industry that has mostly bedeviled most Hollywood studios. Targeting play on TVs makes sense because gaming on phones is a “well-developed, competitive ecosystem.”

Alain Tascan, the head of Netflix’s gaming business, said in an interview that a number of film and TV companies have tried to enter the space without success. “They took a short-term approach,” he said.

Tascan joined Netflix in July 2024 from Epic Games Inc., the publisher of Fortnite, to help reboot the company’s strategy and break the Hollywood curse when it comes to games. Netflix at first thought that offering games for free on mobile phones would attract lots of users. But the company isn’t a destination for video games, and many enthusiasts already play elsewhere.

Management has since identified four categories to prioritize: games for kids, games for parties, mainstream hits like Grand Theft Auto and games based on existing Netflix properties such as Stranger Things.

All of the games in this first offering are free. Lego Party normally retails for about $40.

To play, users must have a smart TV or use streaming devices like those from Roku Inc. To turn a phone into a controller, players will have to scan a QR code. Netflix would like game play to be smooth.

The company is committed to games as a big part of its future, and has been investing lately in more cloud server capacity to accommodate the increased traffic.

“To entertain the world, we must include games,” Tascan said. “A lot of companies have a lot of users, but not that many have all these people on the main entertainment screen at home, the TV.”