One of the most underrated perks of subscribing to Netflix is getting access to a growing library of premium mobile games. At least, it was growing, but there are now signs that Netflix is giving up on becoming a top contender in the mobile gaming market.
Which games are leaving Netflix?
As spotted by What’s on Netflix this week, 22 games are being removed from Netflix’s library in July. As the blog discovered, many of the service’s most notable games now show the “Leaving Soon” tag, indicating that they’re about to be pulled.
Here’s the full list of Netflix Games being removed on July 15:
- Battleship
- Braid, Anniversary Edition
- Carmen Sandiego
- CoComelon: Play with JJ
- Death’s Door
- Diner Out: Merge Cafe
- Dumb Ways to Die
- Ghost Detective
- Hades (Last day to play: July 1)
- Katana ZERO
- LEGO Legacy: Heroes Unboxed
- Ludo King
- Monument Valley
- Monument Valley 2
- Monument Valley 3
- Rainbow Six: SMOL
- Raji: An Ancient Epic
- SpongeBob: Bubble Pop F.U.N.
- TED Tumblewords
- The Case of the Golden Idol
- The Rise of the Golden Idol
- Vineyard Valley
As What’s on Netflix notes, this list represents about 20% of the Netflix game library. These are also some of the best-rated games currently on the service. Hades won numerous Game of the Year awards in 2020, Monument Valley has been widely celebrated since its inception, and the Golden Idol games each have thousands of positive reviews on Steam.
Netflix isn’t removing these games because they were underperforming relative to the rest of its game library. If anything, these games were an incentive to subscribe. Rather, it’s apparent that the streamer is going in a new direction after a rough year for its games division.
In the last year alone, Netflix lost its first gaming boss, closed a AAA game studio before it ever released a game, and canceled plans to distribute several highly-anticipated releases, including Tales of the Shire and Don’t Starve Together.
