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Netflix is ramping up an effort to make video games a part of its standard streaming subscription, including educational game This Is a True Story, about water scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa, released Tuesday.
Netflix
Netflix is adding another three mobile games to its roster in March, including two Tuesday. The move is part of Netflix’s effort to invest in video games as part of its standard subscriptions.
The latest games joining Netflix are:
- This Is a True Story, an educational narrative game available Tuesday, which draws from interviews and real-life experiences to re-create the daily struggles of a woman in sub-Saharan Africa to get water for her family.
- Shatter Remastered, a mobile-optimized version of the brick-breaking game, also available Tuesday.
- Into The Dead 2: Unleashed, a sequel to the zombie action game, coming “soon” this month.
Netflix’s games are playable and downloadable via links in Netflix’s mobile app, but they need to be installed separately from Netflix’s app on your device. You can download the games directly from the Apple and Google app stores at 10 a.m. PT on the day of their release, or you can wait until 2 p.m. ET that day to find the links to them in Netflix’s own app. Android mobile and iPhone users should see a dedicated games row if you scroll down your home tab, with Android additionally having a dedicated games tab. Tablet users should also see a dedicated games row or find games in the categories dropdown menu.
In July, Netflix confirmed that it’s expanding into gaming, starting with ad-free games for mobile devices like phones and tablets available on its existing service at no added cost to subscribers. So far, Netflix has a little more than a dozen casual, mobile games available on the service, many of which were previously released elsewhere.
The expansion represents its most meaningful move into a new kind of entertainment since it started streaming in 2007 and since it released its first original show in 2012. Netflix has sketched out broad ambitions for gaming, indicating that it ultimately envisions pursuing console games for Xbox and PlayStation, too.
Gaming also widens Netflix from its bedrock business of TV shows and movies as the world’s biggest subscription video service. As Netflix has grown, it has long pointed out that its competition extends beyond the traditional TV and movie companies that go head-to-head with it now. The company has repeatedly called out gaming phenoms like Fortnite, as well as user-generated-video powerhouse YouTube, as some of its toughest competition because of the massive amount of entertainment hours they command worldwide.
And the gaming industry is an economic powerhouse. A surge in interest during the pandemic last year bolstered it into a bigger market than movies and North American sports combined. The global market for video games was estimated to be worth nearly $178 billion last year and is expected to eclipse $200 billion in 2023.
Netflix isn’t alone in this gaming expansion. Amazon, which operates Prime Video, has invested in Luna, its cloud gaming service, and also has its own gaming studio. Google, parent of YouTube, has put money into its own Stadia game-streaming service. And Apple, which makes its own films and TV shows for Apple TV Plus, also widened into Apple Arcade.
But Netflix would be unique by making games part of its one and only subscription. Others offer their gaming services as standalone products, typically also in a bundle with a bunch of other memberships.
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