How Netflix Plans to Bring Its Gaming Service to Your iPhone

Last week, Netflix announced that it’s getting into the game streaming business, and while the initiative is off to a rather modest start, it’s safe to assume that the company has much bigger plans for it.

In fact, Netflix Games launched with a paltry assortment of only five game titles, and so far, it’s only available on Android, with whispers that it’s “on the way” to iOS devices.

While Netflix will surely launch more game titles in the coming months, two out of the five games in its debut collection are clearly intended to promote its Stranger Things franchise. We can probably expect a lot more of this kind of cross-promotion since original programming is still Netflix’s core business.

As we explained last week, bringing its gaming service to the iPhone will be a bigger challenge for Netflix since Apple has considerably stricter rules about such things.

Basically, if a developer wants to put a gaming subscription service on iOS, they either have to publish every single game as an individual title on the App Store — with each one going through Apple’s review process — or simply run the whole thing through a web browser.

Since almost every other gaming service, from Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass to Facebook Gaming, has taken the web-based streaming approach, it seemed like a safe assumption that Netflix would go down a similar road. However, now a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman suggests that the streaming giant will actually be swimming against the tide by choosing door number one instead.

As Gurman points out in his weekly Power On newsletter, this is what Netflix is already doing on Android. While the games are accessed directly through a new “Games” tab in the Netflix app, they’re actually installed as standalone apps from the Google Play Store.

Right now, the Netflix offering doesn’t operate like a classic all-in-one gaming service. While you can load up a Games tab in the main Netflix app, the games are actually installed individually via the Google Play Store and operate as standalone apps.

Mark Gurman

It’s actually a very ironic twist, considering the approach that most other big game streaming services have taken is oft-referred to as a “Netflix for Games” approach.

The analogy, as described by big players like Microsoft, is that gamers should be able to “jump directly into a game from their curated catalog within one app just like they do with movies or songs,” rather than being forced to download dozens or even hundreds of apps just to play individual games from the cloud.

So, it’s rather humorous that Netflix — the very service that inspired the analogy — is going in a radically different direction.

This may only be a temporary measure, as Gurman expects Netflix to “eventually upgrade its gaming service by turning it into a cloud-first platform.” However, he doesn’t cite any specific basis for that assumption.

To be clear, Android does not have any restrictions on cloud-based gaming services, so there’s no requirement for Netflix to take this per-app approach to launch on Android. Self-contained apps are likely an easier way to get started, though, and it also means that the service already complies with Apple’s rules, at least in principle.

So, considering that Netflix is already doing this on Android, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that it plans to take the same approach on iOS. However, Gurman has also confirmed this with the help of developer Steve Moser, who found code in the Netflix app referencing standalone games.

How Will This Work?

Until now, all the big game streaming services have been absent from the App Store. Instead, the entire experience is driven via Safari, from signup to gameplay. Users can add an icon to their Home Screen for quick access — just like you can for any website — but that’s about it.

However, with Netflix Games, it appears that every single title will be published on the App Store. Like the actual Netflix app, these will likely be free to download, but you’ll need to sign in with your Netflix account to actually play them.

Based on the Android version and the code references that Moser shared with Gurman, users will be able to see a catalog of gaming apps within a new “Games” tab in the Netflix app, with links to their App Store pages.

Users will also be able to launch the games directly from the Netflix app but will have to at least temporarily pop out to the App Store page to download and install them, including authenticating with Face ID, Touch ID, or a password.

This approach is a solution, but not one that will put Netflix’s gaming service in the best position to succeed. Consumers tend to prefer all-in-one services. Again, the current Android offering also has that limitation, but I’d expect that will only be the case for a limited time.

Mark Gurman

The big upside to this approach is that these games will otherwise behave like any other game from the App Store. They’ll automatically appear on the Home Screen and have full access to all the power of your iPhone or iPad, so they’ll be able to offer a much more powerful gaming experience.

This will also allow Netflix to expand them onto the Apple TV — a currently off-limits platform to other game streaming providers due to its lack of a web browser. While we can’t imagine big console companies like Microsoft are losing any sleep over that, as they’d rather sell you an Xbox for your living room, Netflix has no skin in the hardware game at all. It’s a safe bet it wants to get its gaming service on as many platforms as possible.

While the App Store approach may sound like a more convoluted way of doing things, it’s important to remember that Netflix is breaking some new ground here — we don’t really know how smoothly Netflix will be able to tie the Games section of its app into the App Store pages, as nobody has really done anything quite like this before.

In years past, a few small gaming developers have tried this approach in the past, but they didn’t offer “catalog” apps as Apple didn’t allow such things back then — it only relaxed that rule last year. So, as of now, the only big player doing an App Store-based gaming subscription service is Apple itself. And, of course, Apple Arcade runs directly through the App Store, so it’s not a fair comparison to what third-party developers will be able to do.