During Netflix Geeked Week, the company announced and teased 19 new mobile games that will be made available to subscribers in the coming months. Most of the games will launch in 2022, with the company targeting 50 releases as part of the service by the end of the year. The catalogue had 21 titles in it before the showcase, with one title announced being made available immediately to subscribers.

Old and new; originals and licensed

Of the 19 games shown, 13 are games that have yet to be released on any platform, with the remaining six mostly premium games that have already released over the last few years on PC or console. As they are being ported to mobile, these games are characterised by being less graphically intensive and are often made by smaller independent games studios. Eight of the 19 games shown will be published by Netflix themselves, with five of those based on Netflix Originals. 

Netflix is taking a flexible approach to building its mobile games catalogue and is displaying a mixture of commercial deals to build out its content. It is willing to license third-party games already released on other platforms to achieve its target of 50 releases by the end of 2022 with most of these ports making their mobile platform debuts. Additionally, the company has signed mobile platform timed exclusivity (of unknown length) with upcoming games from some renowned independent developers including ustwo’s Desta: The Memories Between, Half Mermaid’s Immortality and Moppin’s Poinpy. For these indie studios, the offer of a chunk of up-front cash in exchange for exclusivity is likely to be an appealing proposition especially considering that it appears that this exclusivity does not extend to other device categories. It suggests that Netflix will be focused on the mobile games apps for the immediate future. 

The games adaptations from Netflix Originals are a diverse mix. Ranging from The Queen's Gambit Chess, a chess app wrapped in the narrative of the hit series, to Too Hot To Handle, a virtual equivalent of the popular Reality show, Netflix is putting together a collection of games to engage different audiences. Other titles based on Originals are Shadow and Bone: Destinies, La Casa De Papel (Money Heist), and Nailed It! Baking Bash.     

Scattergun genres and international audiences

As has already been shown by its existing collection of mobile games, this new set of upcoming releases reiterates that Netflix is pulling together a diverse collection of titles that will appeal to a cross-section of demographics. While a mix of titles across a catalogue is expected, this represents a time of experimentation for the company in terms of understanding what will engage the best and how different genres can impact usage and churn for its core subscription service. The genres for these newly-announced titles cover Role-Playing, Action Adventure, Adventure, Puzzle, Board & Card, Simulation, Strategy, Platformer and Interactive video, and offer a mix of deeper, narrative driven experiences and short-play casual games.

In terms of the choice of Originals to adapt, La Casa De Papel (Money Heist), The Queen’s Gambit and Too Hot To Handle are all major international hits. The Queen’s Gambit has been especially popular in Western markets according to Ampere’s popularity data but is clearly also a global hit. It is perhaps unsurprising that the games studio commissioned to develop La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) is based in Colombia. Ampere’s popularity metrics show it to have a strong following in South and Central America. Aside from being localised fairly extensively, Too Hot To Handle has also spawned local versions in both Brazil and South Korea so has the potential to interplay with these series across those important markets. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that Moppin’s Poinpy should resonate with Japanese audiences considering the aesthetic of the experience and the background of the Japanese developer, Ojiro Fumoto, who has led the production.