Party games are coming to Netflix on your TV, and the selection is shockingly good

Netflix has been trying to carve out a space for itself in the gaming world for years now, starting with the addition of games to its mobile and TV app a couple of years ago. Earlier this year, Netflix’s co-chief executive officer, Gregory Peters, announced that couch and co-op games would be coming to the service later this year to further expand Netflix’s gaming presence. Now, we finally know which games are coming.

At the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles, Netflix announced that starting this holiday season, it will add five party games to its streaming service. The five titles include: Lego Party!, Boogle Party, Pictionary Game Night, Tetris Time Warp, and Party Crashes: Fool your Friends!

If you have a Netflix subscription, you’ll be able to play all of these games for free. The only other thing you need is a phone that you can use as a controller for the game.

“We’re creating a completely new way to play games — one that’s as easy as streaming a show on a Friday night,” Netflix said in a press release. “All you’ll need is Netflix and your phone to experience a whole new level of fun on Netflix.”

Netflix’s initial lineup of party games is a solid start

Playing the games on your TV is simple

Credit: Netflix

When these titles come to Netflix later this year, you’ll be able to access them through the Netflix app under the “Games” tab. If you don’t have a smart TV with the Netflix app, you can use streaming devices, like a Roku, with the Netflix app to play them. However, Netflix notes that its games aren’t available widely yet on every TV.

“Games are currently available on select TVs in certain countries, with plans to roll out further over time,” Netflix explained.

Once you open any of the games, you’ll be prompted to connect your phone as a controller. You can do this by scanning a QR code that will pop up on your TV.

Looking at the lineup of games Netflix is offering, I’m honestly kinda impressed with what it’s initially offering. In particular, Lego Party! immediately grabbed my attention first. The game just came out recently, and it’s essentially Lego’s take on Mario Party. The game retails for $40 on platforms like Steam and Nintendo Switch, so the fact that you can play it for free on Netflix soon is pretty sweet.

Pictionary: Game Night is another one of the games that caught my eye, and it’s a game where you have to guess what your friends are drawing. On a party night, this type of game can get wild and hilarious pretty fast, so it’s another good addition by Netflix in my view.

The other titles seem interesting as well. Boogle Party is a word game, where you have to scour a grid of letters to find the longest words you can form. Tetris Time Warp lets you play different eras of Tetris, including the original from 1984 and the Game Boy version. Finally, Party Crashers: Fool Your Friends!, is a game where you have to play detective with your friends to find out who the party crasher is.

Netflix has been trying to make a big push into the gaming scene for years. It started back in 2021, when the streaming giant added mobile games to its app for iOS and Android. Then in 2023, it added a selection of games you can play from the cloud on your TV. However, it had a road bump late last year when it closed its AAA gaming studio, which had reportedly been working on a multiplatform game. Netflix’s push to add party games to its platform seems to me like one of the smartest things it’s done thus far in the gaming space, and considering lots of people have Netflix on their TV, it will make games like these a lot more accessible.