After months of rumors and speculation, and subsequent confirmation to investors, we’re finally seeing some substance to Netflix’s planned expansion into video games. The streaming service has begun letting subscribers in Poland try two games on Android.
These two games—Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3—are part of Netflix’s gaming service that automatically comes bundled with a streaming subscription. Similar to Apple Arcade, the games offer a full experience and don’t have ads and in-app purchases.
Contrary to expectation, the games aren’t streamed live like how Google Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming work. Instead, the games will behave like regular apps you get from Google Play Store: you download from the app store and then run them. The main distinction is that Netflix’s games require you to log in to your Netflix account.
An official tweet from the Polish account of Netflix says that this development is still in the very early stages, and that there remains a lot of things to do (e.g., iOS rollout and global release) in the coming months.