Netflix, Chill, and Game: Streaming giant to finally allow users access to its mobile games on TV

Netflix is shaking things up beyond their usual password-sharing shenanigans and bring something genuinely fresh to their subscribers. They’re testing out a cool new feature where users can actually stream some of their mobile games right from the main Netflix app to the TV

Mike Verdu, the VP of Netflix’s gaming division, spilt the beans in a blog post on Monday. He shared that soon, more users will get to dip their toes into Netflix’s impressive selection of mobile games, not just on their phones but on other devices too.

Folks in Canada and the UK are the lucky ones who’ll get to start with this experience. They’ll be able to play these games on their TVs through the Netflix app. And soon enough, they will be able to access the games on their PCs and Macs too. For now, the beta games that are available to users are Oxenfree, the adventure game, and Molehew’s Mining Adventure.

Here’s how users can access the games on their TVs when they are finally eligible. They’ll need to scan a QR code on their TV screen, in the App, which will lead them to a separate Game Controller App.

Netflix launched this beta app recently, so it has limited functionality. However, for games on a user’s computer, they can keep it simple with a keyboard and mouse.

The Game Controller App is the only way to play Netflix games on your TV, at least for now. It’s got a layout that kinda looks like the buttons on a regular game controller, plus a little joystick widget. Third-party controller support may come along, but that will take some time.

Users will be able to play Netflix games on Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, LG TVs, NVIDIA Shield, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, and several others. They’re planning to add more options in the future.

Some of the games in Netflix’s collection are actually console releases, and others are tailor-made for mobile phones. There are games that use the phone’s camera or touch controls. So, it’s a bit of a mystery how these will adapt to bigger screens and Netflix’s setup.

Netflix has been dabbling in gaming since 2021, though not many people have caught on yet. At first, they were making games based on their shows, but they switched things up in 2022 and started focusing on all sorts of games, both indie and big-budget console games. They’ve even bought out some popular indie developers.

Netflix’s game library is huge and has some real gems. We’re talking about adventure games like Oxenfree, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, Valiant Hearts: Coming Home, and Kentucky Route Zero. They’ve also got action and strategy games like Into the Breach and Moonlighter.

The only hiccup so far is that not many folks know about Netflix’s gaming side. Users need to dig around in the app store to find them.