Netflix Closes Its All-Star AAA Video Game Studio, Which Made Zero Games

Netflix seems to want to continue to make inroads into gaming, offering dozens of decently good mobile-focused titles on its service. But it wanted more, which is why it formed an internal studio (codename Blue) that was meant to make a AAA multiplatform game based on an original IP.

Now, as reported by GameFile’s Stephen Totilo, that has been shut down despite its big plans and all-star list of recruited talent. Among those that were hired:

• Overwatch Executive Producer Chacko Sonny
• Halo Creative Lead Joseph Staten
• The Coalition’s Jerry Edsall
• Blizzard and Bungie’s Gavin Irby
• Sony Santa Monica Art Director Rafael Grassetti, and many more.

The news was indeed confirmed by Netflix to GameFile, but it did not say how many people were impacted by the closure. Netflix is not out of gaming entirely, and has shuffled around other roles in its games division, but breaking into the AAA space does not seem to be in the cards any time soon.

I think the lesson here is that game development is not about trying to assemble the Avengers of gamedev from other studios, but rather having a clear, coherent vision of what you’re trying to make in the first place, and that apparently that did not come together. One thing we do not know through all this reporting is the subject matter or genre of the game being worked on the last two years. It is somewhat surprising that it was supposed to be an original IP as I mean, we know how many IPs Netflix has in its portfolio and no doubt many of them could make good video games if adapted properly. But lord knows how tough it is to breaking into A) the AAA market and B) doing so with a new IP. And also in this case C) with a company that has zero experience in that space.

We have seen this happen with other streamers like Amazon, which through partners has produced still-healthy games like Lost Ark and New World, but it recently cut 180 jobs from its gaming division and has cancelled some of its original games like Crucible, back in 2020. It’s been rough going over there. Other streamers like WB/HBO/Max has been content to license out its content to existing developers, though that can also go horribly awry as we just saw with Rocksteady’s $200 million-losing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Disney just had a disappointing Star Wars game in the underperforming Outlaws, and before that, Marvel’s Avengers tanked as a live looter.

AAA gaming is not for the faint of heart, and it appears even as Netflix dominates the streaming landscape, breaking into big-budget is another matter entirely, no matter what talent you manage to scoop up. I hope we hear more about what exactly happened here in the future.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.