Netflix will soon let you play games on PCs and smart TVs

Netflix introduced games on its platform back in 2021. Since then, Netflix subscribers have been playing games via the company’s Android and iOS-based apps. But that is about to change as the streaming giant has announced that the company is working on a new feature that will enable its subscribers to access and play games on their TVs and their PCs.

The company, via a blog post, announced that it has started testing a new way for Netflix subscribers to play games on their smart TVs and on their PCs and Macs via web browsers. As a part of the initial testing plan, select Netflix subscribers will be able to play games on their TVs starting today. To make this possible, the company has introduced a ‘controller that we already have in our hands most of the day — our phones’. This means that, users will be able to play games on TVs using their smartphones.

Furthermore, the company said that the games on TV will operate on select devices from its initial partners which includes 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. The company will add additional devices on an ongoing basis.

On the other hand, Windows PCs and Mac users will be able to play games through Netflix.com on supported browsers in the coming few weeks. While the company didn’t exactly elaborate on the browsers that will support this functionality, it did say that members on PCs and Macs will be able to play games using their keyboards and mouse.

Elaborating on the details, the company said that during the testing phase, only two games will be available for the Netflix subscribers to play. The two games that will be part of this initial test are Oxenfree from Night School Studio, which is a Netflix Game Studio, and Molehew’s Mining Adventure, which is a gem-mining arcade game.

As far as availability is concerned, Netflix said that initially it is rolling out support for gaming on TVs and PCs to a limited number of beta users in Canada and the UK. The company is expected to expand the availability of this feature to more regions in the coming months.

“While we’re still very early in our games journey, we’re excited to bring joy to members with games. We look forward to hearing feedback from our beta testers and sharing more as we continue on the road ahead,” the company wrote in its blog post.