Netflix has long seen the strategic potential of games, but has had trouble implementing it. After initially fruitless dabbling with triple A, the focus is on game leader Alain Taskan had wider appeal. This week it was announced exclusive partnership with FIFA And acquisition of the platform for creating avatars Ready Player Me; Both companies follow a year of strong growth in their children's offering, with age-appropriate mobile games now offered in a child-friendly way on the platform. During my recent work company strategy analysisI spoke with Lisa Burgess, CEO of Netflix Games (Kids), about how the streamer thinks about the game, discovery, and what's next.
Netflix has been making games for several years now. From your perspective, what role do children's games play in the broader Netflix ecosystem today?
Lisa Burgess: The easiest way I can describe it is that the company's mission is to entertain the world. We do a great job with movies and TV shows, and live performances are another form of entertainment. But a huge part of entertainment is games, especially for younger audiences on mobile devices.
It's clear from the types of games you offer that Netflix isn't looking to compete with console gaming or AAA revenue streams, so you're trying to capture a portion of the gaming audience rather than the gaming industry as a whole. Would this be a fair expression?
This is true. Yes, I like it.
Netflix shared its improved strategy and four pillars. How do children's games fit into this?Children are one of the four pillars. There is knowledge that is passed on across the board, and there are things that are specific to children. The most specific thing is that when children get into the IP, they will want to watch it and play it. This connection is closer than in adults. For adults, just because you watch something doesn't mean you want to play that style of game. This happens often with children.
Recently, games have started appearing on children's profiles. What prompted this change?
A lot of time has passed. When I took over in January, we had a lot to do to get games right for kids. One of them was the presence of children's games in children's profiles, but there were other, more relevant principles.
What should have been considered in terms of security, UX or parental controls before taking this step?
A lot of this came down to proper parental controls within our SDK. The SDK wasn't necessarily designed to offer games to kids the way we wanted them to. So it was more about prioritization than internal debate.
How do you balance parental controls with discovery and ease of access for kids?
Parental controls are not new to us; we already have controls in children's profiles. But it's also part of the fundamental work on games. We work with parents to study consumer preferences to understand their expectations and make sure that we are actively present there. More to come.
How do you feel about co-op gaming, especially as Netflix expands beyond mobile into browser and TV games?
The space for parties and families is really fun. The general manager who leads this pillar and I talk a lot because there are overlaps. A family experience where people play on TV together, enjoy the moment in the living room and can do something on their phone and display it on the big screen.
One thing that is important is designing for the youngest ages that you think will use it. If you're creating a design for someone who doesn't already read, you'll want to make sure there's no text in it. Even during internal play tests, parents often ask for additional instructions, but the children cannot read. The game is made for them. For family games, you need that mental model or you need modes that don't leave the youngest audiences behind.
What do you look for when considering intellectual property for children's games?
For kids, we wanted to focus on things that are easily recognizable and can be divided into different categories. This could be a large IP that is on our service. This can be a toy or literary IP, ideally with a connection to the service. We want it to be easy to understand why we have this game. Especially in preschool age, when children get into IP, they want to watch it, play it, buy toys, wear it. At this age it's like your best friend.
You'll see that in what we're launching. It's either based on a big IP or something like Toca Boca Hair Salon, which is very recognizable in the gaming space.
Is the focus now on preschool or are you thinking about older children as well?
The area I focus on is children eight years old and under. You're right, most of what we chose skews preschools. This was our foundation. As we head into 2026, we're thinking more about how to design great experiences for six to eight people and intellectual property relevant to that audience. This is a more complex audience. By age six, some kids are already playing Roblox and Minecraft, and the ecosystem becomes more competitive, although not impossible.
How does Netflix determine the success of children's games? What signals are most important at this stage?
Essentially, we think of success as engagement, time spent playing games. We don't think about it the way most people think about children's games, which is income. Many children's games are optimized for paywalls and getting paid subscribers, that first user experience. We're thinking about interactions that make a difference because developers can focus on making a fun and great game rather than on the paywall part.
What is the time frame for achieving the success you seek?
It's complicated. Internally, I describe it this way: it is not about the final state, but about the trajectory. Are we moving in the right direction?
We also pay attention to external signals. We don't share data, but one thing I can share is that in the US App Store on iPad (after posting games to kids' profiles), three of the top 10 free kids' games were ours. This is a huge achievement in terms of trajectory. A year ago we launched children's games, and now we are ending the year with such visibility.
Some games are made specifically for children, while others are simply suitable for children. What do you think about this difference as discoveries expand?
Openness is a huge part of the journey. I think of two categories. There are children's games that are created and designed specifically for the audience they serve, and that's an important part of my focus.
Then there are the games that children play. This is a slightly different nuance. Something like solitaire may be suitable for children in terms of maturity rating, but this does not automatically mean that it belongs to the children's profile. We will have to do this work, similar to how we curate what belongs to children's profiles on television. There are games that kids under 12 will enjoy that should be there, but we need to decide where we stand on games.
What would you most like to build in the near future?
We are building the foundation, including the portfolio fund. Other things we look at are trends in what Generation Alpha will expect as consumers. One of these things is the default setting. Personalization becomes an expectation. How do we begin to build the future that the next generation will look forward to?
You can download a copy Netflix Children's Games Report Here.
