Netflix has shut down its triple-A gaming studio set up in Southern California, leading to the exit of a number of high-profile developers from the company and sparking questions about its gaming ambitions.
Game File broke the news that the studio, which had former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonn and veteran Halo creative director Joseph Staten on its books, is no more, and Sonn, Staten, and art director Rafael Grassetti, who was art director at God of War developer Sony Santa Monica before joining Netflix in spring 2023, have all left.
Staten only joined Netflix in April last year. Staten, one the original architects of Halo who came in late in Halo Infinite’s development process to help land that very important plane for Microsoft, joined Netflix as the creative director of Netflix Games, and was set upon building a new AAA multiplatform game and original IP.
“In my work life, there’s nothing I love more than collaborating with others to build worlds filled with iconic characters, deep mysteries, and endless adventures,” Staten told IGN at the time. “So today, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined Netflix Games as creative director for a brand-new triple-A multiplatform game and original IP. Let’s go!”
Netflix wouldn’t say why the studio closed, but as Game File reported, it’s evidence of a change of plan for the company’s video game effort beyond what has so far revolved around titles for mobile devices.
More than 100 games are now available via Netflix Games, included with all memberships without ads, in-app purchases or extra fees. Many are based on Netflix’s hit series and films, like Emily in Paris, Too Hot to Handle, Virgin River, and the upcoming Chicken Run: Eggstraction and Squid Game: Unleashed. Members also get games from elsewhere at no extra cost with Netflix, like The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy, Storyteller, Hades, and the upcoming Tales of the Shire and Monument Valley 3.
Netflix’s video game business is helmed by former Epic Games executive vice president of game development, Alain Tascan, with fellow former Epic staffer Jeet Shroff recently joining as vice president of game technology and portfolio development.
In January, Netflix said Netflix Games was doing better than ever, but that might not have been saying much, given past data on the streaming service’s gaming offering. Netflix said gaming engagement “tripled” last year, in part due to the release of The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy on the service near the end of 2023. Netflix called the GTA Trilogy its “most successful launch to date in terms of installs and engagement, with some consumers clearly signing up simply to play these games.”
At the time, Netflix seemed aware of its own position as a grain of video game sand, acknowledging that its games division was “small” and “certainly not yet material relative to our film and series business.” But it insisted it was interested in “broadening” its offerings in the space and continuing to invest.
Is it working? In a more recent financial call, reported on by GI.biz, co-CEO Greg Peters said: “We’re looking good in our engagement growth in ’24, and we’ve set even more aggressive growth goals for ’25 and ’26.”
Indeed, as of July, Netflix was developing over 80 games, with plans to introduce a new game to subscribers each month. “We’re getting close to three years into our gaming initiative, and we’re happy with the progress that we’ve seen,” Peters said.
However, Peters also admitted engagement with gaming “is still quite small” and that compared to Netflix’s “overall content spend,” investment in games is also “quite small.”
He added that Netflix had found success with games based on specific Netflix IP that had already proved popular, with interactive narrative games released in the Netflix Stories app seemingly the focus.
“We’ve seen what works, what doesn’t work,” Peters said. “We’re refining our program to do more of what is working with the 80-plus games that we currently have in development and one of those things that really is working is connecting our members with games based on specific Netflix IP that they love.
“And this is an area that we’ve been able to move in quickly in a particular space, which is interactive narrative games. These are easier to build and we place those in a narrative hub that we call Netflix Stories.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.