Only 1% of Netflix subscribers are playing its games

Despite a heavy investment in the area, Netflix subscribers are yet to embrace the company’s advancements into video games, says a new report.

According to app analytics company Apptopia, Netflix’s 20-plus games available on mobile have been downloaded a total of 23.3 million times with an average of 1.7 million daily users. 

While this would be a solid performance for most new games publishers, the figure translates to less than 1% of Netflix’s total of 221 million subscribers.

Since launching with five games in November 2021, Netflix has consistently expanded the number of titles available to users including games based on IP such as Exploding Kittens, League of Legends and Stranger Things. The company also plans on adding games tied into shows like The Queen’s Gambit, La Casa De Papel and Too Hot To Handle as part of a push to double its current offering to 50 titles by the end of 2022 – an expansion which will also include critical darlings Raji and Kentucky Route Zero. 

But while it has offered games, to date most of Netflix’s games have been largely unremarkable mobile games which have failed to capture much press. The company will hope that its acquisitions of indie studios Night School, Next Games and Boss Fight Entertainment will give its future titles more credibility in the space.

Last month, Netflix revealed that it had lost 970,000 subscribers in Q2. The figure was lower than its previously estimated loss of two million, but still represented a second consecutive quarter of subscriber churn. Concerningly, the company’s biggest losses came from the US and Canada – its most profitable market – where 1.3 million users signed out, while it lost around 700,000 subscribers in EMEA. Its losses were balanced by additions in APAC and Latin America.