According to The Verge, Netflix is launching a new daily puzzle games app called Netflix Puzzled featuring puzzles themed around its biggest franchises including Stranger Things, Squid Game, KPop Demon Hunters, Bridgerton, and Emily in Paris. The app will include classic puzzles like sudoku along with fresh takes on crosswords and word searches, all available at no additional cost to Netflix subscribers. Netflix Puzzled is “coming soon” to both iOS and Android devices and will also be the first Netflix game playable on the company’s Tudum website. This comes after Netflix removed TED Tumblewords and over 20 other mobile games earlier this year, showing the company is rapidly iterating on its gaming strategy despite previous setbacks in the mobile space.
Netflix’s gaming identity crisis
Here’s the thing about Netflix’s gaming ambitions: they keep trying to find what sticks. Remember when they launched all those mobile games that nobody really talked about? And then they quietly removed a bunch of them earlier this year? Now they’re pivoting to daily puzzles because, well, Wordle proved there’s an audience for that kind of thing.
Why puzzles, and why now?
It’s pretty obvious what Netflix is doing here. Daily puzzle games have become a massive trend, and they’re leveraging their strongest asset – their IP. Stranger Things puzzles? Squid Game word searches? It’s smart in theory. But I can’t help wondering if this is just another experiment that’ll get abandoned in a year when the next shiny object comes along.
The fact that they’re putting this on their Tudum website too is interesting. Maybe they’re finally realizing that making people download separate apps for every game experience isn’t working. But honestly, how many people even know Netflix has games? I’d bet most subscribers don’t.
The engagement problem
Look, the concept makes sense on paper. Take popular shows, turn them into daily puzzles, keep people engaged with the Netflix ecosystem between seasons. But here’s the reality: daily puzzle games are a crowded space. There are already dozens of excellent options out there, and Netflix’s track record with games hasn’t exactly been stellar.
They released that TED Tumblewords game and then pulled it. They’ve removed over 20 games already. That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that they’re committed to building a gaming platform for the long haul.
Basically, this feels like Netflix throwing another dart at the board. Maybe this one will stick. But given their history of quickly abandoning gaming initiatives, I wouldn’t get too attached to Netflix Puzzled just yet.
