Netflix is beginning to experiment with game streaming on new devices, starting with TV and PC. The company detailed its plans to expand its gaming offerings in a post on its website, saying that select users in Canada and the UK will be able to try out select titles on certain TVs today. Then, in the following weeks, subscribers on PC and Mac will be able to head to Netflix.com to try out the streaming giant’s games there. The move marks the company’s latest push into the gaming market with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Two games will be available to start: Oxenree and Molehew’s Mining Adventure. The former comes from the talented team at Night School Studio and is a narrative-driven adventure game that earned praise from critics and fans when it originally released in 2016. We don’t know much about the latter, but Netflix describes it as a “gem-mining arcade game.”
Users who play Netflix games on PC and Mac will use their keyboard and mouse to control the experience. Now, you might be wondering, “How do I play these games on my TV?” Well, Netflix has a simple answer that you might already be holding in your hand: your phone. The few users with access to the Netflix game streaming beta on TVs will be able to use their mobile devices as a controller to help the company work out the kinks before the service sees a wider launch. Whether or not phones will hold up as a serviceable controller remains to be seen, but you can at least get a taste of what it will look like in the image provided by Netflix below.
Supported TVs include the following: Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Walmart ONN. Netflix says its list of supported televisions will grow in the future. The goal of the beta is to ensure a stable game streaming option, so if you’re one of the few partaking in these early tests, don’t expect things to run smoothly out of the gate.
“By making games available on more devices, we hope to make games even easier to play for our members around the world,” Netflix said. “While we’re still very early in our games journey, we’re excited to bring joy to members with games. We look forward to hearing feedback from our beta testers and sharing more as we continue on the road ahead.”
It’s still weird to see an entertainment streaming company like Netflix moving into the games space, but this isn’t the first time it’s done so. In 2021, Netflix rolled out a select list of titles for subscribers to enjoy on mobile devices. Those titles are still available to enjoy today and include games like Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, Bloons Tower Defense 6, Transformers Forged to Fight, Sonic Prime Dash, and many more. We’ll have to wait and see if streaming games works for Netflix on TV and PC, so be sure to stay tuned for any updates.
