Netflix's monthly game downloads nearly tripled to 28m in December thanks to GTA

Ever since Netflix took its first tentative steps into video games back in 2021, the company has reported a relatively modest response from subscribers, but new figures suggest its recent partnership with Rockstar to bring GTA to the streaming service has paid dividends, with monthly mobile game downloads nearly tripling to 28m in December 2023.

Ace reported by Mobilegamer.biz based on data from Appmagic (thanks VGC), Netflix's monthly game downloads on iOS and Android climbed from approximately 10m last November to around 28m in December. That jump can be directly attributed to the arrival of Grand Theft Auto on Netflix, with Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas all joining the streaming service in their Definitive Edition guises on 14th December last year.

As per Appmagic's figures, San Andreas was by far the most popular game among Netflix subscribers, and was downloaded 11.6m times. That's compared to 4.1m downloads for Vice City and 2.4m for GTA 3. Combined, that accounts for 18.1m downloads, meaning a further 10m downloads in December came from non-GTA games. That's approximately the same number of downloads Netflix generated in November, according to Appmagic.

It'll doubtless be considered a win by Netflix, whose official figures showed only around 1 percent of its then 221m subscribers were downloading games as of August 2022. 28m downloads from its now approximately 274m-strong membership base suggests the streaming service could be seeing as much as 11 percent of its users engaging with games.

That's good news for Netflix, which has invested heavily in video gaming following its initial dalliances in November 2021. In the years since, its gaming catalog has expanded to over 80 titles and it's made a number of notable studio acquisitions, including Triple Town and Cozy Grove developer Spry Fox, The Walking Dead mobile developer Next Games, and Oxenfree creator Night School Studio – which released Oxenfree 2 last year. It's also established a new Los Angeles studio – led by former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny – to create a brand-new triple-A, third-person RPG for PC.

And while most of its game offerings must currently be downloaded to play, Netflix has been experimenting with a limited game streaming beta in recent times – the goal being to make its gaming catalog playable on all compatible devices, including mobile, TVs, and computers. Only Oxenfree and Molehew's Mining Adventure were available for initial testing, however.