--- title: "Netflix, Apple, Bloomberg: why everyone is launching games · SIWA" description: "Netflix, Apple News+, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Ouest-France: companies outside gaming are adding daily games. Facts, figures and models." canonical_url: "https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/jeux-plateformes-netflix-apple" last_updated: 2026-10-27 locale: en meta: "og:description": "Netflix, Apple News+, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Ouest-France: companies outside gaming are adding daily games. Facts, figures and models." "og:image": "https://dev.siwa.io/og/en/default.jpg?v=c9a0bbc0" "og:image:alt": "SIWA: 23 word and logic games, a new challenge every day." "og:image:height": "630" "og:image:type": image/jpeg "og:image:width": "1200" "og:title": "Netflix, Apple, Bloomberg: why everyone is launching games" "twitter:image": "https://dev.siwa.io/og/en/default.jpg?v=c9a0bbc0" "twitter:image:alt": "SIWA: 23 word and logic games, a new challenge every day." --- > Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://dev.siwa.io/llms.txt) Platforms # Netflix, Apple, Bloomberg: why everyone is launching games Companies that do not sell games, such as Netflix, Apple and Bloomberg, are adding daily games to give people a reason to come back every day and to add value to a subscription. Published figures are partial, but the trend is clear, including among French newspapers. Updated October 27, 2026 5 min read ## Key takeaways - Since 2023, Apple News+ has offered subscriber-only games (crosswords, Quartiles, sudoku, Emoji Game) with streak tracking. - Bloomberg says about 80% of subscribers who play Pointed, its weekly quiz, come back every week (2025). - At The Atlantic, daily plays of Bracket City more than tripled after the game joined the magazine in 2025, according to the publisher. - In France, Ouest-France's games went from 22,300 to 181,000 monthly visitors between July 2023 and February 2024, according to INA. - The dominant model: a free game to attract players, with archives and stats for subscribers. ## Who is adding games, and why now? In a few years, games have moved well beyond gaming platforms. A streaming service, a news aggregator, a financial news group, a magazine and regional newspapers all offer them now. What they share: none of them is a games publisher. The reason is the same everywhere. A daily game gives people a reason to come back every day, which the core product does not always guarantee. For a subscription service, it is also one more benefit to promote. The best-documented case, The New York Times, has its own resource: [NYT Games and subscriptions](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/nyt-games-abonnement). This page covers the others. ## Netflix: games included in the subscription Netflix has offered games to members at no extra cost for years, mostly as separate mobile apps. In its January 2024 shareholder letter, the company said games engagement had tripled over the year, while describing games as "still being small, and certainly not yet material." It also noted that the GTA trilogy was its most successful launch to date, with some consumers clearly signing up simply to play those games ([Netflix, January 2024](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065280/000106528024000029/ex991_q423.htm)). In late 2025, Netflix changed course. Rather than ambitious mobile games, it is betting on party games played on the TV with the phone as a controller (LEGO Party, Boggle Party, Pictionary, Tetris Time Warp). Alain Tascan, head of Netflix's gaming business, put it this way: "we're not here to compete with consoles." NBC News also reports plans for Netflix Puzzled, a hub of daily sudoku, crosswords and word searches ([NBC News, November 2025](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/netflix-games-announcement-rcna243613)). So even Netflix is moving toward short daily puzzles, the newspaper format. ## Apple News+: games as a subscription perk Apple added crosswords to Apple News+ in 2023, including a mini crossword made with The Puzzle Society, then Quartiles, an original game, in May 2024. The announcement highlighted a Puzzles Scoreboard with stats, current streak and longest streak ([Apple, May 2024](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-news-plus-introduces-quartiles-a-new-game-and-offline-mode-for-subscribers/)). In July 2025, Emoji Game joined the crossword, the mini, Quartiles and sudoku. These games are reserved for Apple News+ subscribers in the US and Canada, in English ([Apple, July 2025](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/07/apple-news-plus-introduces-emoji-game/)). Apple does not publish usage figures, but the steady release pace shows games are part of the value proposition. ## Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Washington Post **Bloomberg** launched Pointed, a weekly news quiz, in 2025, then Alphadots, a daily word puzzle conceived by crossword constructor Jeff Chen and built by Bloomberg. Alphadots is free for everyone; subscribers get the full archive and performance tracking ([Bloomberg Media, September 2025](https://www.bloombergmedia.com/press/bloomberg-expands-game-offerings-with-launch-of-alphadots-a-daily-word-puzzle/)). **The Atlantic** grouped its games under The Atlantic Games brand in June 2025: Stacks, Fluxis, Bracket City, the Atlantic Crossword and Caleb's Inferno. Bracket City, an independent game that joined in April 2025, more than tripled its daily plays since then, according to the magazine. Full archives are for subscribers, to whom the games "add value" ([Editor & Publisher, June 2025](https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/introducing-the-atlantic-games-a-digital-parlor-of-puzzles-and-play,256283)). **The Washington Post** launched Keyword in 2023, its third game after a news quiz. Jessica Gilbert, who leads its games, said then that the user play rate had grown 70% in a year ([Editor & Publisher, June 2023](https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/the-washington-post-expands-games-suite-with-keyword,244335)). ## What about France? French newspapers are on the same path, with smaller budgets. INA's [La Revue des médias](https://larevuedesmedias.ina.fr/jeux-en-ligne-un-casse-tete-rentable-pour-les-titres-de-presse) mapped the landscape in April 2024. Ouest-France launched its "Mot du jour" in July 2023: a six-letter word to find in six tries. Its games went from 22,300 monthly visitors before the launch to 181,000 in February 2024, helped by other initiatives such as an Advent calendar. At Le Parisien, crosswords account for almost half of games traffic, and the target is for games to reach "2 to 3%" of total audience, made up of loyal users who come several times a month. All its games are free "for now": the goal of this first phase is to build a habit, before asking players to create an account so the paper can learn more about its audience. Le Nouvel Obs reserves extra puzzles for subscribers. Ouest-France already invites players to create an account to unlock more puzzles. It then uses the email address for a players' newsletter whose subject line asks the same question every week: "Avez-vous joué cette semaine ?" ("Did you play this week?"). The game becomes a way into a direct relationship with the reader, not just a traffic source. ## What model is emerging? Despite their differences, these players converge: | Choice | Examples | | --- | --- | | Free daily game, extras for subscribers | Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Le Nouvel Obs | | Subscriber-only games | Apple News+ | | Games bundled into a subscription | Netflix | | Fully free games | Le Parisien | | Streaks and stats | Apple News+, Bloomberg | | Acquired or licensed game | The Atlantic (Bracket City) | | Game built in-house | Bloomberg (Alphadots) | Two caveats on the figures. They come from the companies themselves, often at a launch. And they describe player behavior, not the causal effect of games on subscriptions. ## How can a smaller publisher follow? Bloomberg and The Atlantic could design or acquire games. Most titles cannot: INA notes that many rely on outside suppliers. The options, licensing, white-label or in-house builds, are compared in [white-label games for publishers](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/jeux-marque-blanche-medias). SIWA is one of those options: 16 daily word and logic games in French, embeddable by iframe in the publisher's colors, with streaks, leaderboards and an analytics dashboard. Details are on the [SIWA for business](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro) page. ## Sources 1. [Fourth Quarter 2023 Letter to Shareholders](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065280/000106528024000029/ex991_q423.htm) Netflix (SEC) · 2024-01-23 2. [Netflix makes a big push into games (again)](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/netflix-games-announcement-rcna243613) NBC News · 2025-11-13 3. [Apple News+ introduces Quartiles, a new game, and Offline Mode for subscribers](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-news-plus-introduces-quartiles-a-new-game-and-offline-mode-for-subscribers/) Apple Newsroom · 2024-05-13 4. [Apple News+ introduces Emoji Game](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/07/apple-news-plus-introduces-emoji-game/) Apple Newsroom · 2025-07-17 5. [Bloomberg Expands Game Offerings with Launch of Alphadots, a Daily Word Puzzle](https://www.bloombergmedia.com/press/bloomberg-expands-game-offerings-with-launch-of-alphadots-a-daily-word-puzzle/) Bloomberg Media · 2025-09-29 6. [Introducing The Atlantic Games: a digital parlor of puzzles and play](https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/introducing-the-atlantic-games-a-digital-parlor-of-puzzles-and-play,256283) Editor & Publisher · 2025-06-17 7. [The Washington Post expands games suite with Keyword](https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/the-washington-post-expands-games-suite-with-keyword,244335) Editor & Publisher · 2023-06-20 8. [Jeux en ligne : un casse-tête rentable pour les titres de presse](https://larevuedesmedias.ina.fr/jeux-en-ligne-un-casse-tete-rentable-pour-les-titres-de-presse) La Revue des médias (INA) · 2024-04-05 ## Frequently asked questions
Why does Netflix offer games? Netflix includes games in the subscription to make it more appealing at no extra cost to members. In January 2024 it called games "not yet material", while noting that some consumers signed up specifically to play.
Are Apple News+ games available outside the US? Apple News+ and its games are offered to subscribers in the US and Canada, in English, according to Apple's announcements.
Which French newspapers offer online games? Ouest-France, Le Parisien and Le Nouvel Obs, among others, according to INA's La Revue des médias. Ouest-France launched a daily word game in 2023, and Le Parisien aims for games to account for 2 to 3% of its total audience.
Should games be reserved for subscribers? Most players in this space keep the daily game free and reserve archives, stats or extra puzzles for subscribers. That split attracts a wide audience while giving people a reason to subscribe.
## Daily games on your site? Let's talk about your audience: we'll show you what SIWA can bring, with figures. [Email us](mailto:hello@siwa.io) [See the pro offer](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro) ## Read next [Platforms

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Queens, Pinpoint, Crossclimb, Tango, Zip, Mini Sudoku: what LinkedIn launched from 2024, why it did, and how far its published retention figures go.Read the article](https://dev.siwa.io/en/pro/ressources/linkedin-jeux-quotidiens) [ Retention

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