Netflix has finally released some tangible content for its games development and streaming aspirations. It announced via Twitter that its Polish user base can now try out Netflix mobile gaming for Android for themselves.
“It’s very, very early days and we’ve got a lot of work to do in the months ahead, but this is the first step,” the streaming giant said.
Netflix gaming is here — kind of
Netflix explains how the new feature works in it’s Polish tweet, but here’s a quick run-down for you. Games can be found in your main home feed alongside movies and shows. Tapping a game will give you some more information on it, and from there you’ll be able to download it. Games aren’t downloaded in-app, but rather you’re redirected to the game’s Google Play Store page. Then you can download it.
According to The Verge, once you boot up a game you’ll have to sign in with your Netflix account details before you can get playing.
Netflix has been teasing its upcoming game offering for a while now, first announcing its intentions in May this year. It later hired ex-EA and Oculus exec Mike Verdu as vice president of game development, and confirmed that it would be putting more emphasis on gaming as a “new content category” in its Q2 2021 earnings call.
There are currently two games on offer from Netflix gaming: Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3. The streaming platform also promises no ads and no in-app purchases. For now…
As far as we’re concerned Netflix’s offering isn’t all that exciting just yet, acting more as a middleman between its own IPs and the Google Play Store than anything else. We were hoping for some kind of games-streaming service like Google Stadia or Xbox xCloud. Fingers crossed that we see something like that somewhere down the line.
Currently, it’s unknown when users outside of Poland will get a chance to try out the new feature.
