Netflix has a problem called a ban on shared accounts and exceptionally high fees. This cocktail has caused millions of customers to jump ship this beginning of the year. The company’s idea is to bring them back with video games.
Netflix is working on a feature that will bring its games to TVs that are Smart TVs and allow gamers to use their iPhone as a controller, just like using a PS5 or Xbox Series controller.
This move would take Netflix‘s gaming service beyond smartphones and tablets, offering subscribers more ways to play. Series take a back seat.
And for customers with Apple products it also eliminates the need to buy a dedicated controller, so people are more likely to give their games a chance.
All the leakage comes from the app’s own code.
Both reports are based on specific code found in the Netflix app for iOS that reads, “A game on your TV needs a controller to play – want to use this phone as a game controller?”
Neither report mentions availability for Android users, although it’s likely to arrive at some point in the future, as these updates typically come to one operating system and then another.
It’s unclear when Netflix will roll out the feature to its global community of around 230 million subscribers, but the plan fits with the company’s recent comment that it wants to make games “playable on every Netflix device you own.”
Netflix launched its gaming service in 2021, though several reports have suggested that it has struggled to gain traction among subscribers to its streaming service.
Data from an app analytics firm last year, for example, said Netflix’s games had been downloaded just over 23 million times and played by 1.7 million subscribers a day, which equates to about 1% of its global subscriber base.
Despite the poor numbers, Netflix is set to redouble its gaming efforts with the release of 40 more titles before the end of this year, the company said last week.
Loombe also said that Netflix has 70 games in development with various partners and 16 more that are being prepared by its internal game studios.
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