Netflix hasn’t made a massive splash in the video game industry. However, they did make some moves to start tapping into it. This included opening a studio and even acquiring one in 2021 with Night School Studio. But now it looks like the studio has just undergone some layoffs, leaving plenty of us wondering what the future holds for Netflix and its gaming division endeavors.
As reported by Game Developer, a few current and former employees of Night School Studio were surprised to learn that layoffs were taking place in January of this year. However, as noted by the publication, these layoffs are not actually affecting any of the studio’s current project slate.
Not too long ago, Netflix shuttered its Team Blue studio, which was set to be a triple-A game studio for the company. As it stands, Netflix typically offers mainly mobile games for players to enjoy at no cost just as long as they are subscribers to the Netflix service. From there, players can typically download and enjoy these games on their mobile devices or even on their smart TVs.
As for Night School Studio, the team might be best known for their breakout graphic adventure hit, Oxenfree. The game launched in 2016, and if you recall, it was centered around a young teenage girl who ventures to an island with her friends. Upon arriving, they encounter some supernatural events that dig into the protagonist’s past.
When Netflix swooped in to pick up Night School Studio, they published a follow-up title for Oxenfree with Oxenfree II: Lost Signals. The game was released in 2023 and received positive reviews. However, beyond that game, we’re not sure what projects the studio has been chipping away at. Regardless, this set of layoffs apparently is not going to hamper any of the current projects. However, we have yet to see a statement released from Neftix on the recent layoffs.
