All the news about Netflix’s gaming efforts

Netflix’s party-focused lineup of TV games just got three excellent new additions: Jackbox’s Drawful 2, Fibbage 4, and Quiplash 3, available as the Jackbox Party Essentials pack on the platform. Subscribers can access Jackbox Party Essentials at no additional cost and use their phones as controllers to play.

The Jackbox bundle seems like a natural fit for the platform; Netflix’s other TV games include multiplayer party versions of Boggle and Pictionary, and people who have already played games in Jackbox’s other Party Packs will be familiar with using their phone as a controller. If you get some friends together to check out Jackbox Party Essentials, I recommend starting with Quiplash 3, which tasks players with making up answers to ridiculous prompts and voting on the best ones. The Quiplash series has become a long-running staple in my family for holidays and big get-togethers because of how accessible and silly it is.

Netflix has made family-friendly titles a key part of its current games strategy, and now it’s pushing a little harder with the launch of a new app. Called Netflix Playground, the app is focused on games aimed at kids aged eight and under, and, like the rest of Netflix’s gaming lineup, Playground games are included as part of a Netflix subscription, and feature no ads or in-app purchases.

Playground is available now in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand, and will be rolling out to the rest of the world on April 28th. The launch lineup primarily consists of titles based on popular kids shows like Peppa Pig and Sesame Street (which is also now streaming on Netflix). “We’re creating a seamless destination for discovery, learning, and play,” John Derderian, Netflix’s VP of Animation Series + Kids & Family TV, said in a statement.

The World Cup is happening next year, and Netflix and FIFA are working on a new soccer simulation game in celebration of the tournament.

“This summer, when the world gathers to celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2026, fans can play a newly reimagined FIFA football simulation game exclusively on Netflix Games,” Netflix says. The new title, part of Netflix’s growing lineup of TV games, will have solo and online play and will be controllable from your phone. It will be developed and published by Delphi Interactive.

Netflix’s next stab at gaming is here. Starting today you’ll be able to play a number of multiplayer party games on your TV using your phone as a controller. To start, Netflix is offering Boggle Party, Party Crasher: Fool Your Friends, Lego Party, Pictionary: Game Night, and Tetris Time Warp. A social deduction game based on the Knives Out series, Dead Man’s Party: A Knives Out Game, is also part of this new slate but will launch at a later time.

The streaming platform’s approach to gaming has been unfocused, with the company bouncing between being a boutique development studio while also being a platform for premium and exclusive mobile gaming experiences. Offering party games on your TV seems like a better fit — one that could allow Netflix to finally find its gaming footing.

Netflix is getting into the daily puzzle games trend in a big new way. As part of a bunch of games announcements, the company revealed it would be releasing a new daily puzzle games app called Netflix Puzzled that will feature a bunch of puzzles themed around Netflix’s biggest franchises.

“Get ready for a plethora of daily puzzles featuring Netflix favorites such as Stranger Things, Squid Game, KPop Demon Hunters, Bridgerton, and Emily in Paris,” according to a description from a Netflix blog post. “You’ll find classics like sudoku, fresh takes on old favorites like crosswords and word searches, and more.”

Netflix has shut down Boss Fight Entertainment, the studio behind the mobile game Squid Game: Unleashed, according to posts from staffers on LinkedIn.

Netflix acquired Boss Fight in March 2022, with an executive saying at the time that the studio’s “extensive experience building hit games across genres will help accelerate our ability to provide Netflix members with great games wherever they want to play them.” The company has frequently touted the success of Squid Game: Unleashed, highlighting how it was the “ #1 Free Action Game in 107 countries upon release” and co-CEO Greg Peters pointing to Unleashed during this week’s earnings call as an example of the types of narrative games based on its own franchises that it wants to do more of.

Netflix has been investing a lot of time and energy into gaming, but the company sees its work on games as part of a broader initiative around interactivity, co-CEO Greg Peters said in today’s Q3 2025 earnings call.

“We’ve mostly talked so far about our work in this space as games because that’s an easy shorthand,” he said. “But we see this initiative as more about interactivity broadly. How does interactivity become complementary to linear storytelling? How is it able to unlock whole new entertainment experiences?” As an example, he mentioned real-time voting, which Netflix is currently testing with Dinner Time Live With David Chang and plans to use with its live Star Search revival in January. “We expect to provide other interactive features to deepen engagement with live events as we go in the future,” Peters said.

Netflix is making good on its plan to bring co-op party games to your television. The company just outlined a quintet of multiplayer games that will be available to subscribers some time this holiday season. According to Netflix, to play you need to choose a game from a new tab and then connect your phone to use it as a controller. The company claims the process is “as easy as streaming a show on a Friday night.”

The initial lineup of games looks fairly strong, and includes the recently released Lego Party; a title called Party Crashers: Fool Your Friends that sounds a bit like Among Us; and takes on Boggle and Pictionary. Rounding out the list is Tetris Time Warp, which appears to be the same minigame that came in Digital Eclipse’s excellent Tetris Forever collection from last year.

Along with a new season of Black Mirror, Netflix might have just released its most interesting licensed game today. Season 7 of the sc-fi anthology includes an episode called “Plaything,” in which a genius coder in the ‘90s — the same one from the interactive “Bandersnatch” episode — creates a new game that’s a little bit like The Sims and a Tamagotchi. The difference is the little creatures you take care of are actually alive, which leads the episode down some dark and surprising paths. And as part of its fledgling gaming initiative, Netflix has released a version of the game from the show for subscribers.

It’s called Thronglets, and it works like a companion to the episode. You take care of little yellow creatures, known collectively as the throng, by providing food and entertainment, as well as helping out with hygiene. Keep up and they’ll thrive. Don’t and, well, things can get dark. The throng will quickly replicate, and soon you’ll have a huge group to look after. At its core, Thronglets plays like a typical mobile building game. The throng will mine for resources, develop new technologies, and open up new areas for exploration over time. As you progress, you’ll unlock new tools and buildings to speed things up and keep the growing throng happy.

Netflix is adding a Peppa Pig game to its roster of available titles for subscribers in June, the company announced on Monday. World of Peppa Pig will be available alongside new episodes of the popular children’s show in the US.

“From spot the difference and interactive mini games to coloring books, dress up games and memory challenges, the World of Peppa Pig offers a treasure trove of creative fun and educational activities for kids and parents alike,” Netflix says in a blog post.

Netflix’s gaming strategy to date has been scattershot. Since Netflix gaming debuted in 2021, the streamer has launched indie darlings, streaming tie-ins, and blockbuster ports. There have been studio acquisitions, attempts at original AAA games, and experiments with cloud streaming. A few years on, it’s not entirely clear what the strategy is — or if it’s really working.

So when Alain Tascan, former executive VP of game development at Fortnite maker Epic Games, joined as Netflix’s new president of games last year, his assessment was to “readjust and focus on fewer areas with more intention.” As he explains it: “we need to find our voice.”

Netflix just announced Spirit Crossing during a press event at GDC 2025. Spirit Crossing represents a first for Netflix, becoming the service’s first MMO offering. It was developed by Spry Fox, one of Netflix’s in-house game studios, and will launch sometime later this year.

Spirit Crossing is described in the press release as a “cozy MMO.” Its launch trailer certainly gives off typical “cozy” game vibes with cute creatures, pastel colors, and chill music that wouldn’t be out of place in a Lo-fi Girl stream. The game will feature customizable housing and neighborhoods for players, open-world exploration, and lots of crafting. Spry Fox is known for several cozy-style games including Cozy Grove and its Netflix-exclusive sequel Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit. Netflix acquired the studio in 2022 as a part of its gaming initiative.

Netflix plans to offer couch co-op and party games that it will stream over the cloud to TVs, co-CEO Greg Peters said as part of the company’s Q4 2024 earnings announcements this week. The company has offered cloud gaming as a beta to a “subset” of subscribers since 2023, so this news from Peters indicates that the company is going to continue to invest in it.

Peters didn’t say exactly when the co-op and party games might be available. But he did say that “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.”

In Squid Game, schoolyard games are turned into nightmares, as players compete to survive and — if they’re lucky — earn a massive cash prize. But in Unleashed, a new mobile spinoff that’s part of the streamer’s fledgling gaming efforts, those games are fun. It’s a strange experience that sands off much of the appeal of Squid Game in service of making a multiplayer party game.

Unleashed is sort of like Fall Guys but in a Squid Game wrapper. You compete against 31 other players across three random games pulled from the show, like “red light, green light” or racing across a bridge made of glass. Slowly other players die off, and by the end one wins a whole bunch of money.

Tucked away in a leafy part of south London, the historic Oval cricket stadium peeking above nearby houses, some 30 developers at Ustwo Games have been striving to solve one of the defining creative conundrums of modern entertainment: how do you balance the familiarity of a beloved franchise with freshness? The problem is exaggerated with Monument Valley, the acclaimed puzzle series that debuted in 2014. The architectural puzzles of the first entry already felt crystalline; the minimalist aesthetic was already fully formed. Can such a refined formula even be evolved?

Monument Valley 3, which arrives on mobile devices via Netflix on December 10th, answers that question confidently: yes, and then some.

Netflix will delist just about all of its interactive shows and films as of December 1st, the company confirms to The Verge. Netflix’s “Interactive Specials” page lists 24 titles, but only four will remain: Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, Ranveer vs. Wild with Bear Grylls, and You vs. Wild.

The removal of the titles marks a disappointing conclusion to Netflix’s earliest efforts into interactive content. The company first launched the interactive titles in 2017 with Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale, and I remember being wowed (and horrified) by paths in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

The first cracks are starting to show in Netflix’s push into gaming. First reported in Game File and confirmed by Netflix, the streaming company has quietly closed of one of its studios, the first in the three years since the company began its foray into gaming.

According to Game File, the shuttered studio was known as Blue. In 2022, Netflix announced it hired former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny to run the studio. Since then, Blue had brought on a number of game industry veterans with experience working on high profile franchises including Halo and God of War. Reportedly, Blue was developing a multi-platform AAA game for an original IP but was closed before the game could be announced or released.