Netflix Stories cancelled as streaming firm focuses on new games strategy

Netflix has cancelled its Netflix Stories interactive fiction IP as part of the company’s new games strategy.

The streaming firm confirmed the news to PocketGamer.biz. The catalogue of narrative-driven titles featured in the Netflix Stories app includes Love is Blind, Perfect Match, and Virgin River.

Netflix Stories will continue to be available to download and play for previously released content.

Nearly 7m installs

According to estimates from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, the Netflix Stories app generated 6.9 million downloads, making it one of the streaming firm’s top-performing titles.

For comparison, Too Hot To Handle: Love Is a Game ranks above with 8.2m installs. Meanwhile, GTA: San Andreas ranks number one with 36m downloads, with Squid Game: Unleashed ranking second at 20m.

Less than a year ago in July 2024, PocketGamer.biz spoke with Netflix Stories director of story Sarah Springwater about how the streaming firm was using interactive fiction to blend its top IP with gaming. The titles aimed to expand engagement with TV fans, while even potentially bringing in new viewers through the apps.

Netflix remains in the interactive fiction space, however. The company confirmed to us that it has partnered with Series Entertainment and Pixelberry for Single’s Inferno: Choices, currently available in soft launch in the Philippines.

Strategy shift

Netflix now has a new strategy for games under president Alain Tascan, appointed to the position in July last year after Mike Verdu moved on from heading up the division.

Speaking at GDC earlier this month, vice president of games technology and portfolio development Jeet Shroff said while the company was previously focused on bolstering its catalogue with more games, it now wants to maximise its reach and innovate with the right types of games for its platform.

Tascan elaborated: “We were trying to figure out the best focus areas where we have a right to win, where we can really push the idea of maximising our reach and innovating in what hasn’t been imagined yet. And in the four focus areas that we’ve aligned on, that’s where we really feel we have a right to win.”

Those four areas include narratives, party games, a destination for kids, and attracting mainstream audiences.