Netflix’s Video Game Development Faltering
Streaming giant Netflix has shut down its Southern California-based video game studio, internally referred to as “Team Blue”.
The studio was reportedly working on a AAA multiplayer shooter game when the company decided to pull the plug. Due to the closure, about 30 people have been laid off.
AAA games refer to high-end games, usually made for consoles and gaming computers, and which can cost several hundreds million dollars to develop due to their complexity as well as cinematic quality.
The games that Netflix is attempting to create can also be played on smartphones, tablets and TVs – where most of its consumers at present watch the company’s movies and shows.
The company’s new app, “Netflix Game Controller,” can turn a smartphone into a controller so that games can be played on a TV or computer. It is already testing that app in more than a half-dozen countries.
Although the company is scaling back its own AAA gaming production, it does not stop it from hosting AAA games from third-party companies. Earlier this year it added three such titles from Take-Two Interactive Software’s Grand Theft Auto series.
In July, Netflix appointed Epic Games’ former vice president, Alain Tascan, as the head of its games division.
Tascan replaced Mike Verdu at Netflix, with Verdu moving internally to a role that the company said was focused on “transformative innovation in game creation and development.”
Netflix entered the videogames space back in 2021. It bought multiple game studios including Night School, Boss Fight, Next Games and Spry Fox to help create original titles and license others from third parties, but hasn’t found the success that it hoped to.
Analytics firm Apptopia has said that growth in game downloads has slowed since late 2023, with about only 1 per cent of total Netflix daily active users playing its games.
The company has though launched more than 100 games to date, mostly casual and designed for playing on mobile devices, such as “Oxenfree” and “Too Hot to Handle.”
Netlfix has been testing the ability for players to stream its games from the cloud to smart TVs and other devices, according to the Wall Street Journal. It is also pushing games with tie-ins to its existing hit shows and movies on its platform, including “Emily in Paris” and “Squid Games.”
The company added more than 5 million subscribers in the third quarter of this year, with a total of 282.7 million subscribers worldwide.