How is Netflix’s big, expensive push into games going? It’s early days, let’s put it that way.
Appmagic data suggests that since the streaming giant started releasing games through its app in November 2021, its entire games catalogue now has a combined 40m downloads. Netflix last reported its total global subscribers as just over 223m.
Only 11 games have passed a million downloads, and its biggest ‘original’ hit to date is its Too Hot To Handle game, which has been installed 2.8m times since release in December. The other Netflix originals in the top ten are casual, arcade-like games Teeter (Up), Bowling Ballers and Shooting Hoops.
The rest of the top ten are reworked editions of existing mobile titles, including two Stranger Things games, Gameloft’s Asphalt Xtreme, Tilting Point’s SpongeBob: Get Cooking, Damp Gnat’s Wonderputt Forever and PikPok’s Into the Dead 2.
New release TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge has been downloaded 245k times in the week since it was released, which is decent.
The full top ten is here, and the full top 50 is below.
Notable games just outside the top ten include League of Legends tie-in Hextech Mayhem (949k downloads since launch in November 2021). Oxenfree, launched in September, has 700k installs; indie darling Into the Breach has just over 611k downloads, cinematic thriller Twelve Minutes sits on 588k and Next Games’ big IP match-battler Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales is on 497k.
Some of the indie games and critics’ favourites on the service have yet to gain traction. Poinpy, a game revealed and released in a showcase hosted by Geoff Keighley during E3 2022, has been downloaded just over 288k times, after over six months. Interactive thriller Immortality has 302k installs, meaning it has already been downloaded more times that Poinpy, despite having only been available since early November.
Reigns: Three Kingdoms, the latest title in the popular Nerial-developed storytelling series, has been downloaded just 276k times since it launched in the Netflix app mid-November. Lucky Luna, the new game from Alto’s Adventure maker Snowman, is on 250k downloads, and Desta: The Memories Between, the latest game from Monument Valley maker Ustwo Games, has been downloaded just 118k times since launch on September 16.
Making up the numbers as the least popular game on Netflix is match-3 puzzler Puzzle Gods, with just 8.7k downloads to date. The next least popular title is Flutter Butterflies with 19k installs.
The complete list of 50 games is below, with lifetime downloads in brackets:
1. Stranger Things: 1984 (4,720,305)
2. Asphalt Xtreme (3,651,924)
3. Stranger Things 3: The Game (3,517,761)
4. Too Hot to Handle (2,786,804)
5. SpongeBob: Get Cooking (2,135,464)
6. Teeter (Up) (1,944,962)
7. Bowling Ballers (1,828,717)
8. Wonderputt Forever (1,394,118)
9. Into the Dead 2: Unleashed (1,338,377)
10. Shooting Hoops (1,313,456)
11. Exploding Kittens – The Game (1,232,701)
12. Krispee Street (980,427)
13. Hextech Mayhem Netflix Edition (948,633)
14. Scriptic Netflix Edition (868,310)
15. Before Your Eyes (752,064)
16. Oxenfree: Netflix Edition (700,451)
17. Card Blast! (669,092)
18. Knittens: Match 3 Puzzle (642,304)
19. Nailed It! Baking Bash (638,531)
20. Dominoes Café (634,706)
21. Into the Breach (611,443)
22. Twelve Minutes (588,125)
23. Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt (585,215)
24. Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales (497,593)
25. Mahjong Solitaire (469,686)
26. Moonlighter (431,991)
27. Heads Up! Netflix Edition (415,216)
28. This is a True Story (410,244)
29. Immortality (302,143)
30. Classic Solitaire (291,733)
31. Poinpy (288,158)
32. Arcanium: Rise of Akhan (285,208)
33. Reigns: Three Kingdoms (276,216)
34. Lucky Luna (250,047)
35. TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (244,698)
36. Dungeon Dwarves (243,026)
37. Hello Kitty Happiness Parade (240,103)
38. Cats & Soup Netflix Edition (179,779)
39. Kentucky Route Zero (167,711)
40. Spiritfarer: Netflix Edition (153,230)
41. Relic Hunters: Rebels (138,388)
42. Shatter Remastered (137,844)
43. Dragon Up! (129,391)
44. Desta: The Memories Between (117,724)
45. Skies of Chaos (79,187)
46. Country Friends (75,838)
47. Wild Things Animal Adventures (48,207)
48. Rival Pirates (26,717)
49. Flutter Butterflies (18,919)
50. Puzzle Gods (8,690)
Last week, we reported on the up to $1m salaries Netflix is offering for potential hires to its growing games team, and prior to that broke the news that it is to make a ‘triple-A PC game’ at its new LA studio.
You can read the full story of Netflix’s last year in games through the link, too.
