Just a couple of years ago, Netflix announced its plans to enter into the competitive mobile gaming industry, targeting a growing mobile gaming market primarily characterised by free-to-play and ad-supported models. Netflix’s strategic approach involved offering games free of charge, devoid of ads or in-app purchases, and recent developments suggest that this initiative is beginning to yield positive results.
In its fiscal year 2023 full-year earnings report released today, Netflix disclosed a notable surge in gaming engagement, citing a threefold increase compared to the previous year. The report states that GTA Trilogy was the most successful launch to date in terms of installs and engagement. It also mentioned that some subscribers had only signed up for Netflix just to play this game.
Netflix Games released GTA Trilogy on December 14, 2023 and it is unclear how much the game had played the role in driving a significant engagement for the whole year within a month from its release. The company also did not reveal how many times the game has been downloaded since its release on the platform. According to Sensor Tower data, GTA San Andreas has been downloaded 10 million times with Vice City and GTA 3 marked 4 million and 2 million downloads since their launch in Dec 2023.
With such figures, GTA San Andreas stands as the most downloaded game on the service with GTA VC and GTA 3 holding Netflix’s 6th and 11th most downloaded titles in 2023, respectively.
As of today, Netflix’s gaming portfolio has approximately 90 games, a significant increase from the initial five introduced in November 2021. The company is committed to adding more games to its portfolio that ensures there’s something for everyone, offering a wide array of options to suit varied tastes and preferences.
While this bodes well for Netflix, do not anticipate the streaming service entering into direct competition with Sony and Xbox shortly. In August 2022, a report from CNBC revealed that 99 percent of the total Netflix users had not tried its games yet.
Netflix recognizes its standing as a minor player in the realm of video games. The company openly admits that its gaming division is currently “small” and “not yet significant compared to our film and series business.” Despite this, Netflix expresses a commitment to expansion, expressing interest in “broadening” its presence in the gaming domain and continuing to invest. There are nearly 90 more games in development and many of them are supposed to hit the shelves this year.
Apart from its gaming endeavors, Netflix reported a substantial increase of 13.1 million subscribers in the final quarter of 2023. This surge represents the highest quarterly addition since the remarkable growth observed during the pandemic. As of now, the global count of Netflix subscribers stands at an impressive 260 million.
Netflix Games does not require a special membership and anyone with a Netflix subscription plan is eligible to download and play the games for free without ads. Check out the Netflix plan prices in India, here.
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