In its sophomore year of video game development, Netflix has pulled back the curtain on the future of its gaming service.
During a recent press event, Netflix spoke about some of its plans for video games in the rest of 2023 and beyond. The company said it has 70 games in development with external partners, in addition to the 16 games Netflix’s in-house studios are developing. Netflix said it will release around 40 games throughout the remainder of 2023, with new games hitting the service at least every month. Currently, Netflix’s gaming platform houses 55 games.
However, when it came to actually showing some of the games in development for Netflix, the company didn’t have as much to say. Netflix announced that Monument Valley 1 and 2 — the isometric mobile puzzle games from 2014 and 2017, respectively — are coming to Netflix sometime in 2024.
In addition, Netflix revealed that a new Too Hot to Handle game is coming later this year alongside a new season of the reality dating show. Plus, Netflix teased the next game in its previously-announced three-game deal with Ubisoft. It’s called Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace, and it’s a rogue-lite follow-up to The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, Ubisoft’s PC and mobile game that combined castle building and dungeon crawling. Rogue Palace is coming to Netflix on April 18.
Finally, the studio revealed that Vainglory and Catalyst Black developer Super Evil Megacorp is working on an exclusive game based on an unannounced Netflix IP. The studio plans to share more on this release sometime later this year.
Netflix ‘very happy with progress so far’
Netflix also declined to provide any concrete numbers about how its games service is performing among Netflix subscribers. When asked for specifics, Netflix’s vice president of external games Leanne Loombe said the company was “very happy with the progress so far” on user growth, adding that games like Too Hot to Handle are seeing more players over time.
Netflix’s game initiative hasn’t caught on with the vast majority of Netflix users. Last August, less than 1% of Netflix subscribers were interacting with the service’s games regularly. But the company said it’s hoping to entice its users to play games on their mobile devices by providing games with no microtransactions, recognizable franchises, and games that tie in to Netflix shows. Netflix has previously announced tie-in games for The Queen’s Gambit, Shadow and Bone, and more.
In 2022, Netflix said it was aiming to have “the absolute best” gaming service for its customers. The streaming giant began rolling out games in November 2021, where Netflix subscribers can access the catalog of available games for no additional cost.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
