Last November, Netflix announced they were getting into the business of mobile games. Shortly thereafter, they launched five games on Google Play and the Apple App Store available to Netflix subscribers only. Two of these were even tied to their popular series Stranger Things, opening doors to novel, multimedia entertainment experiences.
Fast-forward to today. Netflix currently boasts a catalog of 49 gaming apps, including 24 for Android and 25 for iOS. And these aren’t mere vanity projects. The vast majority have well over 100,000 total downloads. Some, such as those tied into the Stranger Things universe, have even surpassed the 1,000,000 downloads mark. Not too shabby.
So, with this in mind, we wanted to identify Netflix’s top performers. We found that NETFLIX Stranger Things: 1984, Stranger Things 3: The Game, and NETFLIX Exploding Kittens led the way for Android, while Stranger Things: 1984, NETFLIX Exploding Kittens, and NETFLIX Asphalt Xtreme came out on top for iOS.
How did we figure this out? We used our app intelligence tools to identify all apps published by Netflix, Inc. Then, we added category and genre filters to find all Netflix apps placed in ‘Games’ categories. Finally, we ranked these apps according to downloads over the last 30 days. Here are some of our findings…
Netflix’s hottest Android games over the last 30 days…
1.NETFLIX Stranger Things: 1984 by Netflix, Inc.
30-day Android Downloads: 416,726
2. Stranger Things 3: The Game by Netflix, Inc.
30-day Android Downloads: 281,398
3. NETFLIX Exploding Kittens by Netflix, Inc.
30-day Android Downloads: 209,647
Netflix’s hottest iOS games over the last 30 days…
1.Stranger Things: 1984 by Netflix, Inc.
30-day Android Downloads: 407,981
2. NETFLIX Exploding Kittens by Netflix, Inc.
30-day Android Downloads: 320,054
3. NETFLIX Asphalt Xtreme by Netflix, Inc.
30-day Android Downloads: 204,987
Downloads for Netflix’s Android apps have been solid in 2022…
Above you’ll find daily global downloads for the most popular Netflix Android apps: NETFLIX Stranger Things: 1984 (purple), Stranger Things 3: The Game (red), and NETFLIX Exploding Kittens (green). These downloads are from the period between January 1st and July 23rd, 2022.
In total, these apps have been downloaded 2,189,377 times since the beginning of 2022.
- NETFLIX Stranger Things: 1984 has 929,401 downloads.
- Stranger Things 3: The Game has 736,539 downloads.
- NETFLIX Exploding Kittens has 523,437 downloads.
But their iOS apps have actually performed better…
Like the previous chart, this one shows daily global downloads. Except these are for Netflix’s hottest iOS games: Stranger Things: 1984, NETFLIX Exploding Kittens, and NETFLIX Asphalt Xtreme. It likewise shows downloads from January 1st to July 23rd, 2022.
In total, these apps have been downloaded 3,579,750 times thus far in 2022.
- Stranger Things: 1984 has 1,382,420 downloads.
- NETFLIX Asphalt Xtreme has 1,318,706 downloads.
- NETFLIX Exploding Kittens has 878,624 downloads.
Final Thoughts
It’s no secret Netflix has struggled in recent months. Back in April, the company’s share prices plummeted from $348.61 to $226.19 overnight. At the time, they cited inflation, war in Ukraine, and fierce competition as primary drivers.
In this context, it’s a good sign that Netflix has had so much early success with their mobile games. Since they’re accessible to Netflix subscribers only, they simultaneously boost the value of a Netflix subscription and help the company improve customer retention.
Of course, the staying power of these apps remains to be seen. The mobile game market is fickle; apps rise and fall in the rankings with regularity and very few stick around for the long haul. So it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on how Netflix’s mobile game gambit plays out over the next few months.
