Netflix is expanding its list of games with the latest addition being an exclusive version of popular mobile game, Heads Up!, the company announced on Monday. In the game Heads Up!, players have to guess words that are placed on another player's forehead before the one-minute time limit runs out.
The game will be rolled out globally to all iOS and Android Netflix subscribers. It is already supported in 15 languages, such as English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Thai.
The game will be based on 28 decks inspired by some of the streaming service's most popular series, including "Bridgeton," "Stranger Things," "Squid Game," and more. Players will also be able to share recordings of their matches with friends and family on Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and more.
Users on an iOS or Android mobile phone will have a row of games they can tap on to download. Subscribers on an Android or iOS tablet will have a row of games or be able to tap from the categories drop-down menu to download and play.
Heads Up! was developed by Gasket Games and U.S.-based publisher Ellen Digital Venture and has amassed more than 70 million downloads and over 40 million users. The game began on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, when DeGeneres played the game with guests holding physical cards. The game was then turned into an app, which launched in May 2013 and immediately rose to the top of the App Store.
Now, nine years after that post, Netflix is launching its very own version of the app into its games catalog. The release comes amid a new report from Apptopia, which found that Netflix games have been downloaded 23.3 million times in total, so that that amounts to less than 1% of the streaming giant's subscriber base, approximately 221 million subscribers.
It brings the total games count on Netflix to 27. By the end of the year, Netflix is planning to have more than 50 games on its platform.
Since its November 2021 launch, Netflix has been adding a new crop of games to its growing catalog each month. As for the titles, they are free to play, without any in-app purchases to speak of. For the company, games present a way to grow and retain the subscriber base it already has; for a company which recently lost nearly one million subscribers, it's easy to see why more games might be a good investment.