Netflix's push into gaming will add party and couch co-op

Netflix's co-chief executive officer Gregory Peters said that the company has made some "good early progress" since it launched games during a call for the streaming service's Q4 2024 earnings. He also mentioned the company's plans for the future of gaming on the service, including rolling out party and couch co-op games that you can stream online. As The Verge notes, Netflix started testing its game streaming technology last year, but it was very limited, and it wasn't clear how it fared. Turns out the company intends to continue investing into the technology and expanding its reach. 

"We think of this as a successor to family board game night or an evolution of what the game show on TV used to be," Peters added when he talked about rolling out party and couch co-op games. He also said that the company will continue adding mainstream titles like GTA, which got tens of millions of downloads, to its offerings. Netflix will continue releasing games based on its shows, as well, because they tend to become fan favorites. Squid Game: Unleashed apparently reached the top spot in app stores' lists for action games in 107 countries. It's on pace to become Netflix's most downloaded game yet. 

Peters said that Netflix is already seeing "positive impacts in acquisition and retention from [its] game-playing members." He admitted that the positive effects brought about by gaming on the platform are still "relatively small," but Netflix's budget for games is also smaller than its budget for shows and movies. As a result, the company will continue "scaling that investment" as it sees its benefits to acquiring new and retaining old subscribers.