Netfix ported two pre-existing Stranger Things mobile games into its Android app in Poland.
Angela Lang/CNET

Netflix is testing out its first stab at mobile gaming within its own app at no extra cost, bringing two pre-existing Stranger Things games to its Android app — but only in Poland.

The two games available in Poland — Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3 — have been available for years off Netflix’s app, having been released through a licensing partnership in 2017 and 2019 to coincide with the second and third seasons of the hit retro-supernatural show.

Last month, Netflix confirmed it plans to expand into video games, starting with ad-free games for mobile devices like phones and tablets available on its existing service at no added cost to subscribers. With broad ambitions to ultimately widen even to console games for Xbox and PlayStation, it represents its biggest expansion into a new kind of entertainment since Netflix started streaming in 2007 and released its first original show in 2012.

The move into gaming widens Netflix from its bedrock business of TV shows and movies as the world’s biggest subscription video service. As Netflix has grown, it’s long pointed out that its competition extends beyond the traditional TV and movie companies that go head-to-head with it now. The company has repeatedly called out gaming phenoms like Fortnite, as well as user-generated-video powerhouse YouTube, as some of its toughest competition because of the massive amount of entertainment hours they command worldwide.

Netflix games won’t have ads, they won’t include in-game purchases and you won’t have to buy individual titles. Netflix games will be part of your overall subscription, in the same way that the company started making and streaming horror movies and reality TV shows alongside high-brow drama series as part of same Netflix membership.