Netflix is reportedly working on a feature that will turn phones into gaming controllers.
The streaming giant is home to hit series such as Bridgerton and Orange is the New Black but launched a gaming service across smartphones in November 2021, and are now thought to be working on a feature that will make their games – which include the likes of Hello Kitty and Into the Dead – accessible on TV.
iOS developer Steve Moser tweeted: “Netflix wants to make games playable on every device by turning your iPhone into a controller for Netflix running on a TV.”
Code hidden in their iOS app would say:
“A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?” The feature would be available on $NFLX cloud gaming soon.
Towards the end of last year, Netflix bosses insisted that they were not asking subscribers to replace their consoles with the new gaming service but hoped that it would become a “natural” way to play games, via the streaming app.
Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt, Netflix’s vice president of gaming Mike Verdu said: “We’re not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement. It’s a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are.”
