Netflix has made deep ventures into the video game market, from introducing mobile games to launching game controller app for TV games. Recently, the streaming company took yet another large step into the world of gaming.
On Monday, Netflix Gaming Vice President Mike Verdu shared a blog post announcing a limited beta test for select Netflix members in Canada and the United Kingdom. This is the first beta test Netflix will launch to improve current members’ gaming experience. Since Netflix intends to expand its gaming offerings to TV and computers, the beta will also test functionality on these platforms as well as their game streaming technology and controller. The beta will be held on TVs only, with PC and Mac betas happening at a later date.
The initial beta will feature two games: Oxenfree and Molehew’s Mining Adventure. Oxenfree was developed by Night School Studio, which is owned by Netflix Gaming. The other game, Molehew’s Mining Adventure, is a gem-mining arcade game. While TV players use their phones as controllers, PC and Mac members can play through Netflix’s official website using a keyboard and mouse. Further, TV games will only function on certain devices from Netflix’s initial partners such as 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 will add more devices on an ongoing basis.
Ever since 2021, Netflix has made a serious commitment to gaming. Along with film and television, Netflix values video games as a form of media to be shared worldwide.
“By making games available on more devices, we hope to make games even easier to play for our members around the world,” Verdu wrote. “While we’re still very early in our games journey, we’re excited to bring joy to members with games.”
Additional information is to be announced. The PC and Mac beta tests will be available through the official Netflix website on supported browsers in the next few weeks.