Netflix Games Engaging Less Than 1 Percent of Subscribers

[ackmondual]

I knew Netflix had games. I did get that memo (IIRC, wasn't it an article on MR?). However, it still feels weird. Like when KFC had fish sandwiches (a chicken only place ).

TBH Apple Arcade also had similar vibes. They're making money hand over fist with their standard app store that you'd have to wonder... why bother? I had a lot of fun on it while I was on my free trial, but I'd have to agree, it is "take it or leave it". For some, there's much more value by paying multiple times more per month on dedicated gaming platforms. For others, $5 a month (or its equivalent if you're getting in via A1), and can support multiple users, isn't bad peace of mind for kids and adults who are tired of free-to-play ads and the most egregious of IAP and MTX.

 

[maxoakland]

Apple should just honestly buy EA, Ubisoft, or TakeTwo (now that Rockstar are leaving controversy being and going woke) and start porting AAA games to iOS and Mac, take advantage of all the raw processing power Apple devices finally have. EA will pay for itself, eventually. And having an Apple logo at the start of every EA game would be incredible. Apple could use EA to develop a game engine to compete with Unreal, an engine that works great with all consoles, PCs, and Apple devices.

Nope. We need to move away from conglomeration and stop allowing giant companies to buy other companies.

It’s bad for consumers and bad for our culture. It stifles creativity

 

[ackmondual]

Nope. We need to move away from conglomeration and stop allowing giant companies to buy other companies.

It’s bad for consumers and bad for our culture. It stifles creativity

It's a tradeoff... conglomerates does mean less innovation, and more monopolistic tendencies. OTOH, they can offer more services and products at better rates

Small shops have creativity and are much more in tune with their customers. However, they don't have the resources of larger groups, and they're more susceptible to buy outs (at least with video games, many lamented how the indie companies got bought up by AAA studios, but what's lesser known is that many indie companies wanted to get bought out. They were hemorrhaging cash)

 

[kayloh20]

I wonder what the split is between iOS and Android. I think there was an article on this a while ago regarding Apple not really allowing them to do it within the Netflix App and that's why they have to do the extra step via the AppStore? Is it the same work flow on Android? If it faires better on Android, one could argue that its Apples "anti-competitive" fault.

I think it's no surprise that it's different on Android. Quite a few things work differently due to Apple's decisions. Not saying that it's a good or bad thing, as there are legitimate pros to some of the restrictive decisions (Discord, for one, never worked with any of my bluetooth headphones on Android, whereas it works perfectly with my iPhone - probably since there's not many ways to do audio calls on iPhone vs Android - which is less restrictive, but also means developers can mess it up easier).

Anyway, on Android, the Netflix app has an extra tab at the bottom for games and it looks kind of like an App Store, where it shows all the games and you can tap on them to get details as well as download (which takes you to the Play Store) or play them (if you have it installed).

 

[CarAnalogy]

Here you go, free crappy games.

But by god you're gonna pay for 1080p.

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

Bummer! I guess Netflix will just have to find another way to stay relevant.

 

[W.O.P.R.]

Wait... what??? Netflix has games?

Well I think I know what the first problem was.

 

[atoqir]

Seeing all the negativity against Arcade and now this

It seems people are really against non predatory games without season passes, loot boxes and micro transactions

Those cash grabs seem to be popular but 'old school' mobile games are not.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Seeing all the negativity against Arcade and now this

It seems people are really against non predatory games without season passes, loot boxes and micro transactions

Those cash grabs seem to be popular but 'old school' mobile games are not.

I always think of it like this. Every day, someone is getting their VERY first phone. Not just someone, but millions of someone’s. They are able to enjoy some of the great games of the early smartphone era, back when they all had ads or IAP, but WITHOUT ads OR IAP.

Many of those games are still fun, folks, just as fun as they were when they were first introduced. And, these new users are enjoying them in a great way. And, once they’ve outgrown them, maybe they end the subscription and go play other games thus bringing more folks into the hobby of gaming. It’s a win win.

 

[3304614]

Oh, wow. I didn’t know — until reading this article — that Netflix had released its mobile games.

I remember the news of Netflix working on eventually releasing mobile games sometime in the future, but I thought Netflix was still working on that (because I hadn’t read anything since then about this). And you say that these games were released in November of last year!?!? About 10 months ago?!?! Wow. Okay. Lol

I think I understand why only 1% of Netflix subscribers have engaged with Netflix’s games, lol.

-Edit- Okay. I see the games now. I don’t use (almost never) Netflix on my iPhone. But now that I know what to look for… okay. I see them in the middle of the ‘Home’ section of the Netflix iPhone OS app. Although I don’t use Netflix on my iPhone, I use Netflix all the time on various TVs. I don’t remember ever seeing a notice on the TVOS app or the FireTV app about the games being available on mobile.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

It’s a really fun and addictive game called Poinpy. It’s not a bad idea for them to fund games like this but they have done a terrible job advertising it

Wonderputt is fun, too. Not something that would make money back normally as it’s fairly short and while IAP’s would work, but would also ruin it. If you liked the Flash game from awhile back, this has the same levels, plus some new fun ones.

 

[3304614]

Okay. I see the games now. I don’t use (almost never) Netflix on my iPhone. But now that I know what to look for… okay. I see them in the middle of the ‘Home’ section of the Netflix iPhone OS app. Although I don’t use Netflix on my iPhone, I use Netflix all the time on various TVs. I don’t remember ever seeing a notice on the TVOS app or the FireTV app about the games being available on mobile.

 

[Maximara]

To play devil's advocate, more competition means more saturation and they now need to make up the money in other ways. Despite all the uber price conscious crowd here and on other sites, there are still plenty of people sticking with Netflix [shrug]. I myself will be getting into NF for the first time in the near future (especially unlike others who had NF for over a decade. If not longer, when they only did DVD rentals)

And truly, getting content in the past for so cheap (what was it, $8 a month?) was a marvel. Like the dot com era, now that SS have attracted customers, they need to move on to their next phase.

The problem with that line of though is you look for new revenue streams (or cut spending) not raise your base subscription price. As MatPat pointed out content, even stuff you yourself make, isn't cheap. A problem with Netflix is they drop an entire season in one day when releasing it over time would encourage people to stay with the platform longer. It also given the impression of the material being disposable — on par with junk food.

This method also takes Earned Media out behind the woodshed and blasts it in the face with a 21 gun salute. There is not enough time to drum up interest for new potential fans or with shows that have a mystery element to theorize about (attracting interest and more possible viewers).

From the comments Netflix's gaming offering is even worst — it is like the marketing department went walkabout. To create something and so poorly promote it that many people don't even know (or remember) it even exists either had to be the actions of someone who for whatever insane reason wants it to fail or has no freaking clue as to what they are doing.

 

[Maximara]

I knew Netflix had games. I did get that memo (IIRC, wasn't it an article on MR?). However, it still feels weird. Like when KFC had fish sandwiches (a chicken only place ).

TBH Apple Arcade also had similar vibes. They're making money hand over fist with their standard app store that you'd have to wonder... why bother? I had a lot of fun on it while I was on my free trial, but I'd have to agree, it is "take it or leave it". For some, there's much more value by paying multiple times more per month on dedicated gaming platforms. For others, $5 a month (or its equivalent if you're getting in via A1), and can support multiple users, isn't bad peace of mind for kids and adults who are tired of free-to-play ads and the most egregious of IAP and MTX.

Given the grief Apple has been having with the EU and in the States with the iOS part of thier app store Apple Arcade, as a subscription service, makes perfect sense. It puts Apple in the similar type of driver seat Nintendo (who they got the 30% idea from) is in and likely bypass any laws the EU and the US Congress (if it can get its act together — but considering its current state that is almost like finding a flying unicorn that farts gold bars) may pass.

 

[msephton]

I can't play most of the Netflix games because they error in various ways during loading.

Poinpy - weird social error (attached)
Domino Cafe - crash
Wonderputt - stuck on loading spinner
Teeter - I can play this one!

I reported these to Netflix who said they're researching the issue. But no app updates have been forthcoming!

Poinpy is the most disappointing for me. I reported it to the developer (he can't do much as the issue isn't in his code), and the publisher Devolver (they thanked me and said they'll look into it).

So try as I may I just can't play.

 

[amartinez1660]

(…) with the idea being that customers remain engaged with the streaming service while they are waiting for new installments of TV shows and series hosted by the platform. (…)

Dang. I find it hard to wrap my head around that the reason these games exist is for customers to burn time while new content comes in.

I find it crazy, as me personally, have watched probably 10% of all the content that I would have liked to have time to watch (example, I haven’t seen Queen’s Gambit, Ozark, Stranger Things and many other key ones). Between all the other services (my personal favorite being Apple TV+ with their weekly single episode release of the series of the time, ie severance, slow horses, etc) there’s even less chances for that.

And that’s the main key ones, if I take most of Netflix (mediocre to good, tossing out the really garbage), that would be probably only 0.5% of the content watched. And I have tons of free time in my hands! I find that premise flawed, Netflix is basically infinite in my opinion.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Dang. I find it hard to wrap my head around that the reason these games exist is for customers to burn time while new content comes in.

That’s what it’s for, and, considering how 1% of their users are engaged with it, while it’s a small number of all their users currently, that’s still a number of users that would be willing to pay for the service even without any new content to watch. Raising that number would be great for them.

 

[menace3]

Games? this is the first Ove heard about it and I have been a subscriber since inception.

 

[SoldOnApple]

Nope. We need to move away from conglomeration and stop allowing giant companies to buy other companies.

It’s bad for consumers and bad for our culture. It stifles creativity

But in the game of hungry hungry corporations, won't Apple miss out if 10 years from now they are the only one that didn't gobble up any massive media companies? Disney has Fox's entire library of TV shows and movies, Amazon has MGM's. Microsoft has a huge library of "must have" IPs. The media landscape is being carved up and over the coming decades will help these corporations become media empires. Apple doesn't have any meaningful game studios, it has no back catalogue of beloved films or franchises, Apple doesn't even own a TV network.

 

[svish]

Many might not be aware of the games that come along with the subscription. Netflix could reduce the price of subscription by offering a plan without games.

 

[Abazigal]

TBH Apple Arcade also had similar vibes. They're making money hand over fist with their standard app store that you'd have to wonder... why bother?

On paper at least, Apple Arcade seemed to have a compelling value proposition. The App Store is becoming over-inundated with freemium and ad-infested games that it's becoming increasingly hard to sift out the good stuff. Apple Arcade is Apple helping to curate such games for users so they don't need to wade through the App Store. Plus, some of the games were formerly freemium titles that have since been "cleaned up".

It's a similar theme with TV+ (where instead of the Netflix model which bombards you with an overwhelming amount of content that you have to sift through, Apple instead presents you with a smaller, curated selection), News+ and to a lesser extent, Apple Music playlists.

It's basically Apple saying - here's what we think would be good for you to consume on your device.

 

[_Spinn_]

Ouch those numbers aren’t good at all. I had no idea Netflix did games as well.

 

[DJ Rob]

What features are you looking for? (no sarcasm or insult intended)

For starters:

1. Progress bar or some other indicator that the show has been previously watched on the endless scroll main screen in the ATV app.
2. Don't push shows that I've already seen as recommendations.

 

[BornAgainMac]

In the app? They removed it so they wouldn’t have to pay Apple commission on every sub.

No. I used Safari on Mac.

 

[ackmondual]

Many might not be aware of the games that come along with the subscription. Netflix could reduce the price of subscription by offering a plan without games.

It sounds like one of those cases where a business wants to make 'x' amount of money for sure. They don't want to lower the price, so they'll provide more value in order to justify that price. Amazon Prime is a prime example of this (pun intended I suppose). If I renew, it's going to be $150 per year after taxes. All I really care about is prime shipping and prime video. I wish I could remove all the other extras like medication, Amazon locker, benefits applied at Whole Foods, Music, Photos, and whatever else to have a far cheaper bill. This is why Amazon Prime is cheaper in other countries (outside the USA).. they don't have all of those extras.