The official Netflix Game Controller app lets you use an iPhone or iPad to play Netflix games on your TV set, which are coming soon.
The free software uses your iPhone’s accelerometer and gyroscope sensors to provide tilt controls in upocming Netflix games for TV platforms,
Netflix games are available on iOS and Android, but you can soon play them on your Apple TV and other TV platforms, including Netflix-enabled TVs.
Netflix doubling-down on gaming
The user interface in the Netflix Game Controller app works in landscape mode and couldn’t be simpler. On the left side, you’ve got your directional buttons. On the right, you’ll find the A, X, Y and B action buttons.
The iPhone and iPad app is free to download from the App Store. The software requires iOS 15.0 and iPadOS 15.0 or later.
View Netflix Game Controller on the App Store
The description notes that “soon,” you’ll be able to play games on your TV with the Netflix Game Controller. “This Game Controller app pairs with your TV and allows you to play games on Netflix using your phone or mobile device,” it reads.
A cloud-gaming Netflix service could be in the works
In 2021, Netflix launched a limited offering of mobile games in its app. The catalog has since expanded to more than 50 titles, regularly adding new titles.
Downloaded from the App Store, all titles provided by Netflix Games are free with a Netflix subscription and come with no in-app purchases.
Netflix’s gaming catalog features well-known titles like Stranger Things, World of Goo, Heads Up, Exploding Kittens, Tomb Raider and Cut the Rope.
The experiment must have paid off because Netflix is seriously considering a cloud-gaming offering that could run games on powerful servers, with a user’s device acting as a simple video-streaming client.
A Netflix cloud-gaming service might be the only way to run games on TVs which often have sub-par gaming hardware and set-top boxes that don’t support gaming.