At his Hollywood office, not far from the Walk of Fame and Sunset Bronson Studios, Netflix chief executive Alain Taskan unveiled new content coming soon to the platform, but it's not a TV show or movie. This is a new game where American viewers compete to win thousands of dollars.
The game show, called “Best Guess Live”, will air weekdays at 5:00 pm PT, where hosts Howie Mandel and Hunter March will present a set of five clues. Mobile game players are tuning in to make their guesses. The sooner they can guess correctly with fewer clues, the higher the chances they will win more prize money. The show, filmed in Van Nuys, is Netflix's attempt to bring gaming to its intended audience of more than 700 million viewers.
“Can you imagine where you can not only go and play a game, but every day you can win an amount of money that changes your life, and it doesn’t take time, it’s easy, and you just have a phone?” said Mandel, widely known as the host of NBC's “Deal or No Deal” and “America's Got Talent.”
The goal is to make gaming on Netflix “as easy as streaming a movie on Friday, using the same innovative approach that led Netflix to transform itself from a DVD company to streaming movies, shows and now games,” Tuscan said.
Netflix has been investing in its gaming vertical for the past four years, with mixed results. Last month, the streamer's co-CEO Greg Peters spoke about the company's gaming efforts. B-class. Under Tuscan's leadership, the division focused on some key areas, including stories based on Netflix programming, games for children, games for social parties and popular games such as “Grand Theft Auto.”
The changes seem to be working. Netflix game downloads rose 17% to 74.8 million from January to October this year compared with the same period in 2024, according to data analytics firm Appfigures. The company is also releasing fewer games, adding 16 games this year compared to 35 last year, Appfigures reports.
Netflix declined to comment on Appfigures' data.
The company also removed the games in part due to low customer engagement. According to Appfigures, Netflix has released 142 games, 78 of which are still active as of October.
Two of the company's most popular mobile games have been released on Netflix in the past two years, including “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” which launched on the platform in December 2023 and has received 44 million downloads. Last year, the streamer released the original multiplayer royale Squid Game: Unleashed, which was downloaded 21 million times. The game was tied into the second season of the popular series, where players could earn money or wild tokens in the game if they watched a certain number of episodes.
Some analysts say there is still room for improvement.
Journalists attend a demo of the game at Netflix's offices on Wednesday.
(Netflix)
“It still seems pretty experimental,” said Ross Benesch, senior analyst at research firm Emarketer. “I don't get the impression that they are on the list of gamers' favorite sources of entertainment.”
On Thursday, Netflix announced its first listing five gamesfor TV, including Tetris Time Warp, Boggle Party, Pictionary: Game Night and LEGO Party! now available. Before the new tablet, subscribers could only play Netflix games on their mobile devices.
When consumers download TV games, they see a QR code that can be scanned on their devices and used as controllers in the game. For example, in Netflix's version of Pictionary, users draw on their phones.
“The big change in strategy is really making sure that we remove any friction that someone might have when they want to play,” Tuscan said in an interview. “We believe that television, especially where people enjoy a variety of shows, is the best place to offer something that is very accessible.”
TV Games is the latest iteration of a Netflix project that began four years ago. The company expanded its staff after acquiring four gaming companies – in Glendale. Night schoolAllen, Texas-based Boss Fight Entertainment, Finnish company Next Games and Seattle-based Spry Fox.
Boss Fight Entertainment was shut down by Netflix last month.
The gaming division's efforts were initially led by Mike Verdu, a former Facebook and Electronic Arts executive. He later moved into a role transforming game development and player experiences with generative AI in November 2024 and left Netflix earlier this year. Tuscan, a former Epic Games executive, was named Netflix's president of gaming in July 2024.
Gaming has become an attractive investment area for some companies as younger audiences spend a lot of time playing games like Roblox, Fortnite and Call of Duty. With 3 billion gamers worldwide and Netflix's audience of more than 700 million, Tuscan estimates “the Venn diagram is pretty big.”
On Thursday, the streamer also announced new mobile games for kids, including digital coloring book “Barbie Color Creations” and hair game “Toca Boca Hair Salon 4.”
It can be difficult for companies to break into this space. For example, in 2023, Google closed its gaming service. Stage after it failed to gain popularity among users.
Tuscan said Netflix doesn't compete with traditional gaming consoles, but is committed to innovation and finding new ways to reach its customers.
Tuscan said he was encouraged by the response he saw.
“This is a step in the right direction,” he said. “But at the end of the day, how many people are going to have that same reaction? We're a data-driven company, and our core data is how many people are going to participate?”
Tuscan said he believes it will be several years before Netflix becomes the Netflix of gaming. He hopes the division can move up from Peters' B- grade to a higher level.
“I’m hoping that by the end of the year we’ll upgrade to an A rating, hopefully to an A+,” Tuscan said.
