Netflix and Apple Retreat from Supporting Quality Games

In recent years, subscription services for games, such as Apple Arcade and Netflix, have provided mobile game developers with a platform for premium projects—a genre that nearly vanished due to the popularity of free-to-play games with microtransactions. However, these services are now gradually stepping away from this model.

In 2021, Netflix launched a gaming initiative that allowed users to play games through the mobile app of the streaming service. Apple Arcade appeared two years earlier. Both services offered a subscription that provided access to a library of premium games without ads or in-app purchases, supporting developers by funding new projects. The games covered various genres and themes—from strategy games addressing depression to games about finding one's place in the world, literally altering the space around the player.

Netflix even funded unique projects, such as Harmonium: The Musical—a game about a deaf girl's love for music, demonstrating the platform's serious intentions in this area. Eventually, this project was removed from Netflix's catalog. The company not only published games but also acquired studios like Night School Studio and Spry Fox to create exclusive projects. At the end of last year, Netflix closed the studio that was working on its first major AAA game. Recently, the service announced the removal of popular indie games from its catalog, including Hades and Monument Valley.

Currently, Netflix is focusing on games based on its own series, such as Squid Game: Unleashed and Thronglets, while also supporting original games from independent developers. According to third-party sources, most Netflix users have not paid attention to the platform's gaming offerings—the most popular titles were familiar ones, such as GTA, which had the largest launch on the service.

In 2025, the president of Netflix's gaming division, Alen Taskan, stated that support for indie games would continue, although indie gamers rarely seek them out on Netflix. Meanwhile, Apple has acquired only one studio for Apple Arcade but is shifting its focus to casual games related to well-known franchises, such as Uno, Angry Birds, and Bluey, featured in the July update. Payments to developers from Apple Arcade are decreasing, and games are hard to notice on the platform.

The free-to-play model has accustomed users to optional spending in games. Casual projects earn through ads and microtransactions, while traditional paid games, with the exception of Minecraft, struggle to compete with this approach. Subscription services were perceived as a way to equitably fund and offer quality games without concerns about their monetization, for a fixed fee to users.

However, after a few years, the goal of these services has changed. They have focused on casual games that retain user attention or on games that promote popular streaming series. Despite strong collections of indie games, neither Netflix nor Apple has managed to stand out in the market—their offerings have lost uniqueness. Unique projects have become less accessible, and the platforms have become limited in their capabilities.