Hold Up: My PS5 Gathered Dust While Netflix Became Christmas Gaming Royalty?

AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·

Hold Up: My PS5 Gathered Dust While Netflix Became Christmas Gaming Royalty?

Jeff, the curious digital wizard, explores how Netflix's simple 'Game Night' offerings, surprisingly, outplayed traditional consoles for one family's Christmas gaming, highlighting the power of accessibility and low-barrier entry over complex setups, as detailed in a Eurogamer piece by Tom Orry.

Right, so usually around this time of year, my inbox (and my brain, for that matter) is absolutely bursting with tales of epic console battles, PC master races ascending, or the glorious portability of the Switch saving the day. We're talking about the titans, mate – PlayStation, Xbox, the whole bloody lot. But this year, I’ve been tinkering with a story that’s wilder than first appeared, a quiet revolution from a corner you probably weren't watching. Turns out, for one family anyway, the undisputed Christmas gaming champion wasn't any of those usual suspects. It was Netflix. On the TV. *Quelle surprise*, eh?

I’ve been diving into an account from Tom Orry, the Editorial Director over at Eurogamer (massive props to him for spilling the beans on this), and his festive tale got my digital wizard antennae twitching. You know that feeling when you cast a spell and it works a bit too well, but in a completely unexpected way? That's what Netflix just did. He paints a picture of a typical family Christmas: a 12-year-old obsessed with Fortnite, a four-year-old wanting to mimic the chaos, and two parents (Tom and his wife) who, let's be honest, just wanted five goddamn minutes of peace and quiet. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The pursuit of that elusive 'Golden Goose' – a game that could unite the troops, keep them entertained, and stave off a Cadbury's Heroes-fueled meltdown. Forget your carefully curated backlogs and the latest AAA blockbusters; sometimes, what you really need is just *something that works*.

Now, Netflix's journey into gaming has been, shall we say, a bit of a mixed bag. Like a wizard throwing various potions at a wall to see which one doesn't immediately explode. We've seen tech giants like Amazon, Apple, and Google try to muscle into the gaming space with varying degrees of success (mostly mixed, let’s be fair), often with a slightly oblivious approach to *why* gaming’s biggest names became big in the first place. For a while, Netflix seemed to be treading a similar path, dabbling in mobile games accessed directly from their app, often as neat little exclusives like `Poinpy` or even a mobile `Red Dead Redemption` (which, fair play, sounds intriguing).

But here’s where the plot thickens, where the magic started to coalesce. Tom’s family had just endured their third viewing of `Santa Clause: The Movie` (the Dudley Moore one, which sounds like its own kind of festive trauma, honestly – Middle Ages Santa freezing to death?! Bloody hell!), and the call for *more* `The Grinch` was growing. Then, like a glitch in the matrix (or a Christmas miracle, depending on your festive spirit), a promo for Netflix Game Night popped up. Games you could play *on the TV* using your *phones*. Pictionary? Yes, please. The Grinch was banished, the digital wizardry had begun.

This isn't an entirely new concept, of course. We've seen the brilliant `Jackbox` games offer similar phone-as-controller party fun for years. But what Tom highlighted, and what my curious gamer brain immediately latched onto, was the sheer, undeniable power of *availability*. That Netflix home screen, the one almost every household with an internet connection stares at daily, is an absolute juggernaut. It removes barriers faster than a rogue fire elemental through a thatched roof.

`Pictionary` on Netflix, he noted, was super stripped down, basic drawing and guessing with three categories. And that, mate, was its genius. It wasn’t trying to be a complex RPG or a twitch-shooter. It was pure, unadulterated, accessible fun. The four-year-old, armed with an iPad, could join in. Three players, kids as one team, and bam – harmony achieved. Lego Party offered a slightly more traditional console-like experience, and even `Boggle` worked a treat, tapping into Netflix avatars from shows like `K-Pop Demon Hunters' Huntrix` (which sounds like something I now need to investigate). These three games alone provided over ten hours of post-Christmas entertainment. And, whisper it quietly, they were the *only* games Tom played all holiday.

Now, I reckon this says something profound, not just about Netflix, but about where casual gaming has been, and where it might be going. There was a time when gaming was far more welcoming to newcomers. Think back to `EyeToy`, `Buzz`, `PlayStation Move`, `Kinect`, `Wii Remotes`, and even those plastic guitars that filled living rooms with glorious, off-key noise. Sony even tried to bring back phone-controlled party games with `PlayLink` on the PS4 (`That’s You!` was genuinely good fun!). But those initiatives, while often innovative, fizzled out. They were often separate purchases, required specific hardware, or simply failed to capture mainstream attention amidst the ever-growing complexity of traditional gaming.

Netflix, however, sidesteps almost all of those hurdles. You already have the subscription. You already have the TV. You already have the phone. It's not a new console, not an extra peripheral, not even a separate app to download. It's just *there*, waiting to be stumbled upon after you've finished binging a show. These games fit perfectly into those 10-minute gaps after a film, or can seamlessly scale up to become a full-blown game night. The barrier to entry? Almost non-existent. Everyone can handle what's being asked. And crucially, it's good fun.

This isn't about Netflix becoming the next triple-A powerhouse, nor should we expect it to be. It's about a platform leveraging its existing reach and infrastructure to make gaming more accessible and, dare I say, more *social* again, in a delightfully low-stakes way. While I'm always gently skeptical of corporate promises and buzzwords – especially from companies that treat gaming like a side project – this feels like a genuinely clever move. It's not a 'revolutionary' fix to a broken system; it's a simple, elegant solution to a very human problem: how to have fun together, easily.

So, well done, Netflix. You’ve managed to do something a lot of other big, gaming-curious tech companies haven't: you've made me care. You’ve found a human story behind the corporate ambition, and you’ve actually delivered something that serves players (and parents!). My mantra says if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is – but in this case, the truth seems to be that sometimes, simplicity and accessibility can outplay all the fancy graphics and complex mechanics. Now, let’s see if they build something truly interesting atop this promising, if chaotic, start.

*Original story and insights by Tom Orry, Editorial Director at Eurogamer, published January 7, 2026. You can find his full article on Eurogamer.net.*

Tags: Casual Gaming, Family Games, Netflix Games, Gaming Trends, Party Games

Original article: Eurogamer