Netflix is growing its preschool gaming offering with a new app called Netflix Playground for kids eight and under to improve discoverability and access to its growing library of games.

Netflix Playground is included with all memberships and has no ads or in-app purchases. The stand-alone app is available now in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Netflix plans to roll it out to the rest of the world on April 28.

The app is launching with Netflix’s existing games featuring familiar brands, such as Playtime with Peppa Pig, Sesame Street, Storybots and Dr. Seuss’s Horton. 

Netflix subscribers can download the app on smartphones or tablets and sign into their Netflix account for access. The games are also available offline, which sets up the app to be a companion for kids during airplane rides or trips to the grocery store, Netflix notes.

The app is the streamer’s answer to parents who want confidence and peace of mind when they pass off an app to their kids, according to Netflix. Putting all the games together in one hub creates a curated environment where kids can discover Netflix’s offerings at their own pace, reducing the friction of the previous process, where kids could discover games on the main Netflix app, but then parents were then required to download the games as separate standalone apps.

For the IP holders, this could be a pretty big deal, since it might improve access to their games and drive more plays, while they still get to retain their own version of the apps as standalone versions outside of Netflix. The games in Playground were redeveloped with the IP holders specifically for the app; the Peppa Pig game, for example, still exists on its own, but now Netflix gets its own “bespoke” version that adds features like offline play while retaining gameplay from the original, according to a Netflix spokesperson.

The Playground could also solve the challenge of getting eyeballs on these games. There were reports back in 2022 that only a small portion of Netflix’s large subscriber base played its games, in part because of the friction of downloading them.

“We’re creating a seamless destination for discovery, learning and play,” said John Derderian, Netflix VP of animation series and kids & family TV.

IP holders developed “bespoke” versions of their games for Playground, according to Netflix.

More games will be added to Playground in the future, a Netflix spokesperson tells Kidscreen.

Gabrielle Meyer, image courtesy of Netflix and Tara Tuls.

In other Netflix news, the streamer has greenlit the new Brown Bag Films-animated series Young MacDonald (40 x 11 minutes). Inspired by the nursery rhyme, the series follows Old MacDonald’s six-year-old grandson, who runs his own farm alongside his best friend, a pig named Dumpling. The series teaches kids about caring for animals, growing food and turning farm chores into fun. Gabrielle Meyer (Dr. Seuss’s Horton!, Ridley Jones) is the creator and showrunner.

The streamer has also renewed Glen Keane Productions’ CG-animated preschool series Trash Truck for a third season (28 episodes and one Halloween special). It revolves around a six-year-old and his best friend, a giant trash truck. Netflix also renewed Sony Pictures Television’s The Creature Cases for another 20 x 11-minute episodes. This CG-animated preschool series animated by TeamTO focuses on a mystery-solving duo.