Netflix has been investing a lot of time and energy into gaming, but the company sees its work on games as part of a broader initiative around interactivity, co-CEO Greg Peters said in today’s Q3 2025 earnings call.
“We’ve mostly talked so far about our work in this space as games because that’s an easy shorthand,” he said. “But we see this initiative as more about interactivity broadly. How does interactivity become complementary to linear storytelling? How is it able to unlock whole new entertainment experiences?” As an example, he mentioned real-time voting, which Netflix is currently testing with Dinner Time Live With David Chang and plans to use with its live Star Search revival in January. “We expect to provide other interactive features to deepen engagement with live events as we go in the future,” Peters said.
Recently, Netflix has also shaken up its gaming strategy to focus in part on multiplayer party games, including a batch that you’ll be able to play on your TV by using your smartphone as a controller. “These games are super easy to access,” Peters said. “ It’s just like our series and films. You scroll to the games tab, you pick whatever you want, click it, and you’re in. You don’t need a special controller — that’s key to this access.”
In the “years ahead,” Netflix expects that “creators will really find interesting and novel ways to unlock all of the power that is in this incredibly advanced controller that we all happen to have in our pockets, which, of course, is our phones,” Peters said.
The company is also putting its efforts into offering games based on its own franchises, games for kids, and more mainstream titles like Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition.
With its approach, Netflix sees that it “not only extends the audience’s engagement with a story, but it creates a synergy that reinforces both mediums, the interactive and the non-interactive side,” according to Peters. “It drives engagement and drives retention, therefore supports the business.” Down the line, the company is going to “ramp our investment in this area judiciously,” but Netflix is “extremely excited about the progress we’ve got ahead of us.”