MOVIE NEWS – Netflix’s first cloud gaming test marks the arrival of the “real Netflix of gaming”.

Netflix launches its first public test of games streamed from the cloud. Beginning Monday, subscribers in Canada and the UK will be able to test games streamed to select TVs, connected TVs and the web from Netflix.com.

In a blog post, Mike Verdu, Netflix’s vice president of games, described this as a “limited beta test” for a “small number of members”, so it won’t be immediately available to all subscribers in Canada and the UK.

Even if this initial launch is small, it’s potentially a massive moment for Netflix’s gaming ambitions.

The company first launched its mobile gaming offering in November 2021 as a free subscription benefit. Until now, the company’s titles have only been available on iOS and Android. By bringing games to TVs and web browsers through cloud streaming, subscribers will potentially be able to play Netflix titles in many more places. It also means that Netflix can start competing for gaming time on TVs and PCs.

The two games available now are the first Oxenfree (created by Night School Studio and now owned by the streamer) and a new title, Molehew’s Mining Adventure, which Verdu describes as a “gem mining arcade game”.

You can control the games with your smartphone when you play on TV. On Android, the controller will be available through the Netflix app. On iOS, you’ll have to download a particular controller app, spokeswoman Chrissy Kelleher told The Verge. (Yes, the one that mysteriously appeared in the App Store last week.) If you access the games on the web, you can play them with a mouse and keyboard.

Here are the devices that will support Netflix games for now:

• Amazon Fire TV streaming media players
• Chromecast with Google TV
• LG TVs
• Nvidia Shield TV
• Roku devices and TVs
• Samsung Smart TVs
• Walmart Onn

Verdu promises that more devices will be added “continuously”.

I haven’t tried any of Netflix’s streamed games myself, so I can’t vouch for what it’s like to actually play them. Given the provider’s long experience with streaming video, I suspect things are decently smooth. But streaming glitches are more annoying in a video game than watching an episode of Stranger Things.

Even if there are problems, I bet Netflix doesn’t have a problem with it; it’s clearly starting small to give itself room to iron out the initial problems.

The company sees cloud gaming as a “value-add”. This is closer to Microsoft’s approach than Google’s failed strategy with Stadia. There is a good chance that there will be no serious problems with their cloud games either.

Source: about.netflix.com