Netflix now allows you to play games within the app, but for the time being, this function is only available to users of Android devices. Netflix claimed in an announcement last week that the worldwide distribution of at least five games has begun for Android phones and tablets, with an iOS version to follow later.
According to a recent rumour, Netflix Games for iOS will be made accessible through the App Store, which implies that the native Netflix app for iOS will not include games, as it does in its Android equivalent.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman pointed out in his email Power On that Apple’s App Store restrictions prevent Netflix from offering games within its video streaming app on the iPhone and iPad, as reported by Bloomberg. Apple’s standards for Software Store apps prohibit a third-party app from including games as a component of the overall user experience.
And it is this that has landed Apple in problematic situations regarding cloud gaming services like Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Microsoft Xbox Cloud Gaming, among others (xCloud).
A web app is the only option to include games in an iOS app that are not specifically designed for that platform. This approach is what Facebook has used in order to provide a diverse selection of games to its iOS app users. In addition, Apple’s own Arcade service requires customers to download a game and then play it, but only as part of a subscription package, something Netflix is beginning to experiment with its new game releases.
It has been claimed that Netflix is considering providing individual games through the App Store in order to get around this prohibition. Because the games are included as part of the subscription, consumers will not be paid anything more, which means Apple will not receive any additional cash.
According to Gurman, Netflix Games will be accessible through downloading applications on your iPhone. This is similar to how these games are accessible on Android, where you must download them individually from the Google Play Store, but you can access them from within Netflix’s main app through a dedicated tab, similar to how they are available on iOS.
This is not the optimal setting for what Netflix hopes to transform its services into in the future. In order for the Netflix app to function properly, users must be able to play games while simultaneously viewing a show or movie on the Netflix app.
Because of this, Gurman believes that the streaming giant would eventually move all of its games to the cloud, perhaps creating what would be known as Netflix’s cloud gaming service. Cloud gaming is fully functional on Android, but it would pose a problem on iOS, where Apple’s stringent App Store restrictions have made it hard for businesses such as Google and Nvidia to achieve a significant breakthrough in the gaming space. In that case, Netflix’s only remaining choice would be to make its cloud-based games available through the Safari web browser.
