Netflix is planning to expand on its video game catalog from 24 to 50 end 2022, marking a significant investment

By the end of the year, Netflix will have more video games available than ever before, but for now, few of the streaming giant’s customers are playing them.

Since last November, the firm has been rolling out games to keep users entertained between show releases to keep people engaged. Only subscribers can play the games, but they must be downloaded as separate apps.

According to Apptopia, an app analytics company, the games have been downloaded over 23 million times, with 1.7 million users a day on average. That’s just 1% of Netflix’s 221 million subscribers

In recent months, Netflix’s reliance on video games has evidently increased as the company battles to capture customers’ attention.

Despite losing almost one million subscribers in the second quarter, down from 200,000 in the first quarter—the first time it lost customers in over a decade—Netflix has faced increasing competition for attention.

Netflix identified Epic Games and TikTok as among its biggest competitors for people’s time in a letter to shareholders last year.

According to Tom Forte, a Prosek Partners analyst, one of the many advantages of pursuing the strategy is the ability to drive engagement beyond when the show first comes out on the platform.

Despite Netflix Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters’s assertion that the company had been studying how video games keep clients on the platform for ‘many months and years’ last year, Netflix remains committed to experimenting with new ways to keep customers engaged.

During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Peters says that the eyes were on the ‘long-term prize’ of creating ventures that are tied to the worlds, characters, and stories that they are creating.

In January, Peters remarked that he expects to see more licensed content made available over the coming year

Netflix has been reluctant to reveal how it plans to turn video gaming into a core part of the firm’s strategy, rather than a minor sideline

A Nexflix representative says the catalog would expand to 50 games by the end of the year, including “Queen’s Gambit Chess,” inspired by the hit Netflix show.

According to Leanne Loombe, head of external games at Netflix, the company is still learning and experimenting with what games members want to play, during a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.

In January, Peters remarked that he expects to see more licensed content made available over the coming year.

Netflix has acquired three video game companies in the last year, but it relies on outside developers for its current library.

All of these factors point to significant investment. While Netflix hasn’t disclosed how much money it has invested in developing games, they are capital-intensive ventures. The streamer paid roughly $72 million to acquire Finnish studio Next Games.

According to Forrester analyst Mike Proulx, Netflix has been investing in gaming slowly, and it still appears to be a test and experiment at this stage. He says that most people don’t associate Netflix with games.

Apptopia reports downloads for Netflix games are far less common than Subway Surfers, Roblox, and Among Us, which are each downloaded more than 100 million times. However, downloads have increased since May, after a long downward trend that began in December.

In January, Netflix co-CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings said, “We must provide the highest quality in our category, in order to satisfy our members. There is no point in being there if we are not noticeably superior.”

To continue growing, particularly in more saturated markets such as the U.S., Netflix has employed various tactics, including developing its kids’ shows, establishing an online shop to sell goods, and recruiting Steven Spielberg to increase the quality of the movies available on Netflix.

Despite the fact that it is still well ahead of streaming rivals like Disney+ and HBO Max, Netflix gained fewer subscribers than expected in its most recent quarter.

Choose-your-own-adventure-style shows are one of the earliest forays into interactive programming that Netflix has made.

Although ‘Carmen Sandiego’ and ‘Black Mirror’ are two examples of this, many people claim they fall short of being an actual video game.

In recent calls with analysts, Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEOs, expressed their interest in moving into gaming.

They have also identified Fortnite, a battle-royale shooter game, as a competitor for their customers’ time.

GameStop Corp., the video-game retailer attempting a comeback, saw its shares plummet as much as 7.5% in premarket trading Thursday after the news was announced.