If I’m picking one word to describe the arrival of video games on your Netflix app, that word would be “stumbling.”
Here’s how it works, according to Netflix: You open the app — on your Android smartphone or tablet only at this point, FYI — and make your way to the newly arrived Games section, which should be accessible on your homepage. Then, you choose the game you want to play from the launch library, at which point you’re whisked off to whatever app store you use to download games.
Once it’s downloaded, you can access and play your desired game inside the Netflix app. The five titles currently available are Stranger Things: 1984, Stranger Things 3, Shooting Hoops, Card Blast, and Teeter (Up). A quiet start for sure. But simple? Not really!
Because the games feature is not yet live on Pixel 3a XL or Galaxy Note20, I can’t confirm how any of this works inside the app just yet. But Netflix has a blog-length rundown of the feature. So even if you’re in the same boat as me, we can get a sense of how it works.
I found it easy enough to find the five Netflix Games releases in the Google Play store, searching them by name. They’re all free to install, and I had no problem getting going with Teeter (Up). The app made me sign into my Netflix account before it would let me play, but that was the only obstacle.
This is still a strange setup, though, and one that may confuse regular Netflix users. Unlike the service’s movies and TV shows, you’re not streaming these games from the cloud as you play. Instead, you’re installing them individually and using your Netflix credentials to sign in, which tells the game, “Hey, this person is OK to play.”
There’s no question that this is only a first step for the company’s move into gaming. The blog post is hazy on what the future of Netflix Games looks like. But with products like Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming in the mix, it’s not unreasonable to envision a future where games on Netflix work more like their streaming movie and TV counterparts.
The selection of available titles is also sure to expand over time, but there’s no sense of how at this point. Since the titles available right now are all mobile-friendly, it’s reasonable to expect Netflix Games to arrive in some form for iOS users. But people don’t use Netflix on mobile devices only, and one wonders if the company is planning a more robust library that leaves room for console gaming-style experiences.
The arrival of Netflix Games is hardly a bad thing — we’ve known this expansion was coming since the summer — but the rollout on day one definitely raises more questions than answers.
