We’re approaching three years since Netflix quietly started testing its first handful of games in limited markets.
As we’ve reported previously, the streamer oversaw a huge spike in downloads at the end of 2023 when it added Football Manager, Storyteller and the GTA Trilogy to its catalogue. And it continues to sign credible indie games (Hades, Braid), broad appeal titles like Sonic Mania Plus and add to its line-up of romance games (Too Hot To Handle, Virgin River).
But what are Netflix games’ biggest hits to date? We pulled the download data from Appmagic to find out, and added when they were released for context. The top 20 by lifetime downloads is below with commentary, plus there’s a look at what’s been installed most in the last 30 days.
It’s perhaps no surprise that GTA: San Andreas is by far the biggest Netflix game to date; the more unexpected entry here is Storyteller in second, a puzzle-like game that allows players to create their own narratives.
It was only released in September 2023 but it has 13m downloads to date. Clearly, Netflix subscribers like a good yarn, with narrative-led games Too Hot To Handle in fifth, Scriptic in tenth, THTH2 in 13th and Twelve Minutes in 15th.
Ninja Kiwi’s tower defence games clearly have a big following, with Bloons TD 6 ranking in fourth despite only being released in June of last year (it’s also one of few games here linked to a huge IP or storied franchise). Football Manager Mobile has also seen relatively strong downloads within the catalogue since its launch in October 2023.
Rockstar’s other games are way behind San Andreas. GTA: Vice City has under a third of San Andreas’ downloads with 6.1m, while GTA III is down in 14th with 3.2m installs to date.
Asphalt and Stranger Things have the advantage of having been out on Netflix much longer, so they cling onto a spot in the top ten – but they will likely drop out in a few months as new games arrive.
Netflix games lifetime downloads: 11-20
11. Farming Simulator 23 (Giants): 4.6m (Released: 11/23)
12. Stranger Things 3: The Game (BonusXP): 3.9m (08/21)
13. Too Hot to Handle 2 (Nanobit): 3.3m (07/23)
14. GTA III (Rockstar): 3.2m (12/23)
15. Twelve Minutes (Annapurna): 3m (12/22)
16. Exploding Kittens (Direwolf): 2.8m (05/22)
17. Classic Solitaire (MobilityWare): 2.72m (12/22)
18. TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (Playdigious): 2.71m (12/22)
19. Sonic Prime Dash (Sega): 2.7m (07/23)
20. Into the Dead 2 (PikPok): 2.69m (04/22)
The notable newer entries here include Farming Simulator 23, which was only released in November last year, and two games released last summer: Too Hot to Handle 2 and Sonic Prime Dash. Those two have performed relatively well given their short time on the service and tell us that, rather unsurprisingly, recognisable IP works with Netflix’s more mainstream audience.
For a picture of what’s resonating right now, here are Appmagic’s estimates of Netflix game downloads from the last 30 days:
GTA: San Andreas has racked up well over twice the installs of Bloons TD 6 in the last 30 days, with Football Manager very close behind in third.
Brand new games Dumb Ways to Survive, Sonic Mania Plus and Hades are in fourth, eighth and ninth respectively. Interesting to note that while it has plenty of cult gamer appeal, Supergiant’s roguelike Hades was released around the same time as the much more casual/mainstream Dumb Ways to Survive, but has generated ~200k fewer installs.
Sonic Mania’s presence here, despite having only just been released this month, suggests that Sega’s blue blur is still a big draw among Netflix’s casual player base.
Also: we should perhaps stop being surprised by the success of Farming Simulator at some point, but its showing here in seventh still raises an eyebrow. Never underestimate the appeal of virtual agricultural work.
As we reported back in January, Rockstar’s trio of GTA games hit around 18m downloads a little over a month after launch in December 2023, yet there was no substantial mention of games in Netflix’s latest financial results, and some industry watchers have cast doubt on the service’s long-term viability amid rumours that Netflix is looking to monetise its games catalogue.
The streamer’s hiring spree also seems to have halted. Back in spring 2022 we profiled the many experienced games execs that had joined the firm to kickstart its games push, and last summer saw the media giant expand into hiring folks to lead its charge into social and triple-A games.
