Since last year, Netflix has begun to enter the world of mobile gaming and has added dozens of games to its application. It turned out that the games were not selling well and were only played by less than 1% of Netflix subscribers.
According to data from Apptopia, an average of 1.7 million users play Netflix games every day. Since Netflix currently has 221 million subscribers worldwide, it means that less than 1% of their subscribers have ever played the games offered on the Netflix app, as quoted from The Verge, Wednesday (10/8/2022).
Apptopia found Netflix games have been downloaded 23.3 million times since Netflix announced its plans to expand into the mobile gaming sector in November 2021.
At that time Netflix only provided five games, most of which were related to Netflix original content such as Stranger Things. The collection has now grown to more than 20 games, including the card game based on Exploding Kittens, the League of Legends spinoff game Hextech Mayhem, and the strategy game Into the Breach.
Netflix plans to double the number of games it offers to 50 games by 2022. The streaming platform has already acquired three indie game studios and plans to launch games based on The Queen's Gambit series.
Netflix subscribers can download dozens of these games for free on Android and iPhone. Android customers can access and download directly from the Netflix app or Google Play Store, while iPhone customers can only download via the Apple App Store.
This finding is certainly bad news for Netflix, which in the last two quarters lost more than one million subscribers worldwide. This mobile game has become one of Netflix's mainstays to keep its customers at home, but they are aware that the gaming division will not immediately generate profits.
"We're going to experiment and try a lot of things," Netflix COO Greg Peters told investors during Netflix's announcement late last year.
It is not known how much investment Netflix has made to build its mobile gaming division. They have acquired three game studios, including Next Games for a dowry of USD 72 million.
To boost its streaming business, Netflix is preparing to launch an ad-inserted subscription package later this year, as well as charging additional fees from users who share passwords with others.
