Netflix launches free children’s games app to compete with Apple Arcade
Netflix has released a new app, “Netflix Playground,” for children up to eight years old. Playground offers a selection of games featuring popular characters from shows like Sesame Street and Peppa Pig – completely ad-free and without in-app purchases.
With Playground, Netflix enters into competition with Apple Arcade, Apple’s game subscription service. Like Playground, Apple Arcade games are ad-free, free to play, and without in-app purchases. A monthly fee unlocks all content. Apple offers hundreds of titles, but no complete subscription option that includes streaming content and game access.
While Apple offers an Apple One subscription that combines Apple TV, iCloud+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade for €19.95 per month, the ad-supported Netflix subscription, with series, films, and games for adults and children, is cheaper at €8.99 per month. Without ads, it costs roughly the same as Apple One, namely €19.99 per month.
Netflix is targeting age verification requirements.
The children’s app launches at a time when many countries have introduced stricter app restrictions for minors and age verification requirements for app users. The increased focus on the content children are exposed to has likely prompted parents to seek out simple, child-friendly content.
The new Playground app is available from today in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the Philippines and New Zealand, and will be launched worldwide on April 28.
