It's been a rocky road for Netflix's gaming output thus far, as the streaming giant was once invested in big, AAA games, but made drastic cuts and has since shifted toward mobile and party games. The company has been invested in gaming for more than five years already, and while the company said it's inspired by the results so far, there is still "tons more work to do" before Netflix really shows up in gaming in a way that it set out to do years ago.

During Netflix's latest earning briefing (via Motley Fool), co-CEO Greg Peters started off by answering the question, "Why are we doing this?" in regards to getting into gaming in the first place. As some may recall, Netflix once wanted to rent you games via a service called Qwiskter, but that did not pan out.

Netflix tried again for an obvious reason: There is money to be made. "At the highest level, we really see this as a significant market opportunity," Peters said, mentioning that there is a $150 billion gaming market--that doesn't even include China or Russia--that Netflix wants to tap into.

Today, Netflix's games are available to stream on your PC or TV, or you can download games on your phone. These games have no ads or in-app purchases.

Peters said the market for gaming revenue at Netflix is "getting bigger," but the company isn't quite there yet with regards to creating games and a technology setup that gets people in and keeps them subscribed.

"A significant part of that market faces issues like new player acquisition or low-friction game discovery and play--and we believe we are well positioned to improve," he said. "We have been building foundations: the ability to develop games, bring games onto our service, connect those games with players, and give players high-quality experiences."

Peters went on to say that Netflix has learned in its initial rollout of games that offering games to members can drive people to sign up for Netflix and keep them subscribed, but the executive said "the observed acquisition effect has been small to date." It was reported in 2022 that less than 1 % of Netflix subscribers played games, but it's unclear what that figure may be today. In any event, Peters said Netflix's slow growth in games was always the plan, saying the results thus far have been "consistent with our maturity or expectations amongst consumers of us as a gaming platform."

While Netflix's efforts in gaming have been relatively small thus far, Peters said Netflix has observed that getting people to play games on Netflix extends engagement and creates "synergy" that helps both games and TV/film. "The interactive and the non-interactive sides both do better," he said. "That further drives engagement and it delivers more value."

Peters also stressed that it continues to be early days for Netflix's efforts in gaming, saying the company is "still really just scratching the surface in terms of what we can ultimately do in this space."

"We have been building infrastructure and core capabilities, but now we are increasingly able to deliver more of the kinds of experiences that move us toward our vision and our aspirations. There is tons more work to do, for sure, but it is fun to get to this stage. You will see some increasingly interesting releases from us in the year to come," he said.

One of Netflix's latest big moves in gaming was the launch of the standalone Netflix Playground app, which offers a variety of games aimed at children. Netflix's virtual game controller app is proving popular, recently reaching the top of the charts on iOS.

Some of the games you can play on Netflix right now include party games like Jackbox Party, Overcooked: All You Can Eat, and Boggle Party, as well as mobile titles like Red Dead Redemption, Farming Simulator 2023, and Football Manager 26. There is also a Happy Gilmore game where you play golf and punch Bob Barker.

Regarding Netflix's struggles in gaming thus far, the company was working on a AAA multiplayer shooter with a team that included Halo and Destiny veteran Joe Staten, but the game and studio were scuttled in 2024. Netflix's gaming boss said the announcement wasn't indicative of, "We're not going to do big, ambitious games." Instead, the genre was not aligning with Netflix's ambitions, apparently. The shift away from this game came amid a wider shakeup at at Netflix's film and TV divisions that calls for fewer, less-expensive releases that aim for higher quality.

In other video game news, Netflix is producing a live-action Assassin's Creed TV show, a BioShock movie, and a Gears of War film and animated show.