Netflix Officially Confirms The End Of An Era

Netflix has certainly come a long way since the early days of posted DVD and Blu-ray rentals, growing into one of the largest companies on the planet, and the biggest streaming service in the world, with over 325 million subscribers. In recent years, those plans for growth have extended even further, beyond the realms of TV and movies, and into gaming.

The company started acquiring studios for a dedicated gaming department in earnest back in 2021, initially focusing on mobile experiences before moving into more ambitious projects. Now, things are changing once again though, and it’s a solid sign that things aren’t functioning quite as intended on the video game front.

As first reported by Game File, Netflix is stripping back its current involvement in the gaming sector significantly, though it remains committed to continuing to pursue it overall. The next unfortunate studio set to be closed is Los Angeles-based Night School, which was one of the first developers it acquired back in 2021.

This news comes just six weeks after they released Unhinged, a 30-minute horror experience which has done well for the company, at least according to Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters, who cited “really solid numbers” in a meeting with investors.

The developer is most well-known for releasing Oxenfree, a hugely underrated supernatural thriller about a group of friends who accidentally open a ghostly rift (and then have to do something about it). After their acquisition, they released a sequel to that game (as well as a mobile version of the original), and another project tied to Black Mirror.

In explaining the decision to Game File, a Netflix representative shared a brief statement confirming that the streaming giant is refocusing its gaming efforts towards kids and party games, as well as narrative efforts and existing IPs, like FIFA World Cup.

“We see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities,” the spokesperson said. “We are incredibly grateful to the talented colleagues we’re saying goodbye to today. We thank them for all their contributions to Netflix, and wish them the best.”

It will certainly be interesting to see what Netfix’s gaming efforts are set to look like moving forward, but it’s clear that they feel somewhat overleveraged right now, and scaling back their operations is a way of minimizing risk to the department overall.

founded

January 16, 2007

founders

Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph