Netflix’s virtual game controller app just topped the iOS U.S. app chart
In a surprising spike, it briefly dethroned Chat GPT, Claude and Temu as America’s most-downloaded free app for iPhones and iPads.
The data is clear. The reasons behind it are not, though the Easter Bunny might have a clue.
Netflix’s virtual Game Controller app, which is used to turn iPhones and iPads into controllers for multiplayer video games streamed to Netflix subscribers through TVs (or computers), is suddenly one of the most in-demand iOS apps in the United States.
On Friday, April 3, it ascended into the top 25 free iOS apps, ranked by downloads. The next day, it rose to fourth.
On Sunday, April 5, the Netflix Game Controller app took the number one slot on the iOS free app charts. In doing so, it vaulted past scores of popular mainstream apps, including those for Chat GPT, Google, Walmart, McDonald’s, Door Dash and Netflix itself.
The controller app has drifted down since then, but even today, Wednesday, April 8, it was ranking eighth, ahead of the likes of Telegram and TikTok and regular old Netflix itself (it’s since declined to 17th during the editing of this piece).
The controller isn’t some brand-new app benefitting from buzz or marketing around its launch. It’s been available since 2023 in limited testing and got a bigger push last November when Netflix launched Game Night, a suite of multiplayer games streamed to subscribers. Those games include multiplayer versions of Boggle and Pictionary as well as the social deduction games Party Crashers and Dead Man’s Party. The games are streamed at no extra charge to user’s TVs or computer screens, via the Netflix app running on those screens. But they require phones or tablets to be used as controllers, which is where the app comes in.
Netflix has not promoted the controller app’s sudden surge, focusing its gaming PR machinery this week on the rollout of a kids gaming app. A rep for Netflix did not have any comment to share about the controller app’s rise, when contacted by Game File.
The controller’s success does not appear to be the byproduct of paid marketing. I’ve seen no ad campaigns, nor have any been detected by the mobile app experts at Sensor Tower, according to the service’s lead gaming analyst Sam Aune.
One possible explanation about what the chart rankings are showing: Netflix game-streaming may be a thing that blows up during holidays, when families get together and possibly commit to playing a round of Netflix-streamed Boggle or competitive Tetris. Aune shared some data that supports that.
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