Netflix wants to make board games and chill a thing

Netflix has been dabbling with games for some time now, from Android games that are free to play for subscribers to streaming games on your TV, like Oxenfree. On the streaming side, there’s plenty of room to expand into territory beyond indies and narrative titles based on Netflix properties, like party and couch co-op games, which is precisely what Netflix’s co-chief executive officer Gregory K. Peters says the company will be introducing as a successor to family board game night, per Netflix’s Q4 2024 earnings call.

In other words, Netflix plans to push further into gaming by offering an expanded catalog that will bring people together, perhaps to Netflix Games and chill ( ˘ ³˘)♥.

Couch co-op and party games could be coming soon to Netflix

Via the cloud

Netflix’s Q4 2024 earnings call has revealed a few juicy nuggets about the company’s gaming plans. Of course, like all earnings calls, the info discussed is to be taken with a grain of salt, as you never know who is overpromising or overinflating future plans. Still, it’s a good peak at what may be to come, and Netflix has some interesting plans for its game output.

It would appear the narrative games based on Netflix IPs have done well, so we can expect more on that front. But the bigger news is that Netflix plans to expand into couch co-op and party games, delivered through the cloud to your TV, which sounds like a great way to get people together, much like the old days when you had to go to someone’s house to play a multiplayer game.

Imagine having to play games with people in person, akin to family board game night or a tabletop night with friends, or maybe something more personal that’s 1v1, lol. Heck, co-chief executive officer Gregory K. Peters even tossed out the idea that these streamed games could be an evolution to game shows. Who wouldn’t want to play an in-person game of Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune with their family and friends at no extra cost to their Netflix subscription?

Safe and free games for kids, too

Netflix hasn’t forgotten kids either, with plans to release safe games free of extra purchases or advertisements, which is actually already a positive of Netflix Games to begin with, streamed on your TV as well as the Android releases. Plans for more licensed titles like GTA are in the works as well, which is no surprise when the company closed its game studio last October; it’ll need licensed titles to bolster the ranks.

So it would seem Netflix is still interested in growing its gaming catalog for streaming and Android, though one has to wonder if all these games are part of the reason subscription prices are going up. Gregory K. Peters says the company’s “investment in games” is “relative to our overall content budget,” claiming the company will “stay disciplined about scaling that investment,” but it’s still hard to shake the idea price hikes wouldn’t be so frequent without this expansion into games over the last few years.