Netflix is now launching its first tests of a cloud gaming service in the US, having launched limited trials already in Canada and the U.K. The service builds on the mobile gaming efforts by the company that started in 2021 as the streamer has become aggressive in picking up gaming studios and licensing titles from individual developers to further make gaming another major arm of its business. Now Netflix is also letting its members play its games on smart TVs and other devices connected to the television, like Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, and many more, using a member's mobile phone to play the games as the controller for playing the games with its cloud gaming service.

It was last fall when the company first demonstrated that it had a serious plan to enter the market for cloud gaming; when at TechCrunch Disrupt, Netflix VP of Games Mike Verdu spoke with the audience about such a proposition. To clarify exactly where the service sits within the larger gaming market, Verdu explained Netflix views gaming as "a value add.".

"We're not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement," he said. "It's a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are," Verdu added.

The strategy positions Netflix against other cloud gaming services, including Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming, Nvidia GeForce Now, PlayStation Plus and Amazon Luna. But in the case of Netflix, it is offering all its games free with the subscription of Netflix. Majority of its titles are already tied to its most popular shows. According to Wall Stree Journal report, the company is currently producing games based on its several shows such as "Squid Game," "Wednesday" and "Black Mirror," among others. Furthermore, it has reportedly discussed a plan to release a "Grand Theft Auto" game by Take-Two Interactive with a licensing deal, said the report.

Already Netflix has released games based on popular shows like "Love Is Blind," "The Queen's Gambit," "Stranger Things," "Narcos," "Nailed It!" and many more, along with fleshing out its catalog with generally well-received games like puzzles, platformers, card games, strategy games, kids' games, and much more.

The company has been relatively acquisitive as it scales up its gaming business, acquiring studios such as Boss Fight Entertainment, Night School Studio and Finland's Next Games, but has also set up several of its own internal game development studios, including the Helsinki studio led by former Zynga GM, another led by a former Blizzard Entertainment exec, Chacko Sonny, executive producer of the "Overwatch," at Southern California.

The company did start with mobile, but Netflix has long indicated that mobile gaming was merely the first phase of its experiments. Cloud gaming and its own IP is next.

Critics, however, raise the question of whether or not gaming makes sense for the streamer in terms of its nearest rivals outside other media companies fighting for users' time. For instance, YouTube has already surpassed Netflix as a number one video source for the U.S. teens. This is according to the investment bank Piper Sandler in a report by CNBC.

It aims at diversifying the games it could host on more devices starting with the launch of its game streaming service on TVs. The test includes "Oxenfree" from Night School Studio - the first games studio the streamer acquired way back in 2021 - and Molehew's Mining Adventure, a gem-mining arcade game.

Games can be played on Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Walmart ONN. The company said more devices would be supported in time.

The members would play the games on TVs using a dedicated app on their mobile phone. TechCrunch had caught wind of the release of Netflix's iPhone game controller app before the first official tests went live this August. Games will also be able to be played on Macs and PCs using a keyboard and mouse.

The company intends to test its game-streaming technology during the trials and also to improve end-user experience as the trials stretch into the U.S.