Netflix will soon allow you to stream games on your TV, PC and Mac

With your Netflix subscription, you can not only stream films and series. You also have access to a catalogue of games on your mobile. You can download and play the included games for free via the app store on your iOS or Android device.

Until now, the games were trapped in the plan on the small mobile screens. This is about to change. In future, you will also be able to play the games on your PC, Mac and TV via the cloud. In a blog post, Netflix announces a limited test for Canada and the UK. The aim is to test how reliably the game streaming works.

Two games have been included in the test so far: the excellent horror adventure "Oxenfree" and the arcade game "Molehew's Mining Adventure". A separate mobile app with an on-screen analogue stick and virtual buttons serves as the controller. PC and Mac testers can also control the games with a mouse and keyboard. Game streaming runs on the TV via the Netflix app and on the PC via the browser.

The cloud gaming service will be supported at launch in the Netflix app for streaming devices from Amazon, Google, Roku and Nvidia as well as on Samsung TVs. According to Netflix, other devices will be added on an ongoing basis. The integration of cloud games into the Netflix apps on Playstation and Xbox consoles seems rather unlikely. The service would be in direct competition with the existing offerings from Sony and Microsoft.

Netflix has not revealed when the cloud gaming service will be rolled out on a large scale. It is also unclear whether the service will also support physical controllers in the future.

From series giant to gaming giant?

According to Mike Verdu, VP of Netflix Games, the test is "a first step towards making games playable on all devices that members use Netflix on".

Back in November 2021 Netflix announced the launch of its gaming offering for mobile devices. Since the launch of its gaming offensive, Netflix has already announced and realised various games, acquisitions and cooperations in the gaming sector. Among others, the company has acquired the mobile game studios "Spry Fox", "Next Games" and "Boss Fight Entertainment" as well as the "Oxenfree" indie developer "Night School Studio".

The in-house studios are according to Netflix currently working on 16 new games for the plan. External partners and studios are set to release 40 new games this year. A further 70 games are also in development. The current line-up already includes some high-calibre indie and mobile games such as the construction game "Terra Nil", the FMW adventure "Immortality", the retro brawler "TMNT: Shredder's Revenge" as well as the sensational horror adventure games "Oxenfree" and "Oxenfree II: Lost Signals".

Aside from the mobile and indie sector, the streaming giant also wants to produce AAA games on a larger scale in the future. In September last year, a new game studio was founded in Helsinki for this purpose. Most recently, "Halo" veteran Joseph Staten announced that he was leaving Microsoft to work on a large AAA game at Netflix. "God of War" developer Raf Grasseti also recently left Sony to work on a "new AAA game with original IP" at Netflix Games.

In short: something is happening at Netflix Gaming. The investments in game studios and the new cloud gaming service show that the streaming giant's ambitions are absolutely serious. However, this does not guarantee success. Google recently proved that entering the highly competitive gaming market is no walk in the park. The game streaming service Stadia was completely shut down in January this year after around three unsuccessful years.