Image: Netflix
Netflix is getting into cloud gaming, and it might just succeed where Google Stadia failed.
Netflix is officially getting into cloud gaming, allowing its subscribers to stream games on the platform at no additional cost. Head of Netflix Games Mike Verdu announced that the company is, “rolling out a limited beta test to a small number of members in Canada and the UK on select TVs starting today.”
The beta test will also arrive on supported browsers on PCs and Macs over, “the next few weeks,” with the intention to make games, “playable on every device where our members enjoy Netflix - TVs, computers, and mobile.” Currently, the limited beta includes Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Walmart ONN, with more devices to be added later on.
Two games are being included in this beta test: Oxenfree and Molehew’s Mining Adventure. Oxenfree is an acclaimed narrative adventure game from Night School Studios, which was recently acquired by Netflix in 2021. The game just received a sequel - Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals - in July this year, so it’s a good time to catch up. Molehew’s Mining Adventure is described by Netflix as, “a gem-mining arcade game,” but appears to be a new title in Netflix’s games catalogue.
While PC and Mac users can stream Netflix games using a keyboard and mouse, TV users are getting an app. That’s right, instead of using a regular game controller, Netflix is releasing its own mobile controller app with four buttons and a control stick, in a layout that looks similar to Nintendo controllers of yore. That makes things a lot more accessible for users who won’t go out and get a Netflix-specific controller, but a mobile app doesn’t seem future proof either.
Netflix’s foray into cloud gaming is a lot more subdued than companies like Google and Amazon, which made big launch announcements to get gamers into their ecosystem. Google Stadia and Amazon Luna for example, offered unique controllers or exclusive titles, but hardly caught on in mainstream gaming. Xbox Cloud Gaming has had much more success in this area, seeing as it leverages Microsoft’s powerful cloud technology with existing Xbox products. It was even used against Microsoft by the FTC to combat the company’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King.
Check out our article on Netflix Games to see why Netflix has been trying so hard to tap into the games industry.