Netflix in the present day closed certainly one of its inside sport studios, one which was poised to launch a triple-A title, earlier than it was capable of produce something. The studio was referred to as Group Blue, based in 2022 and based mostly on Los Angeles, and was allegedly engaged on a PC sport. Because of this studio closure, the corporate has additionally misplaced the expertise it very publicly employed, and has additionally reportedly made different layoffs in its video games division.
Sport File reported the closure, saying that Group Blue was engaged on a “big-budget multi-device strategy” on the time. To workers out this new studio, Netflix employed a number of recognizable names from main video games firms — together with studio lead Chacko Sonny, previously Overwatch’s govt producer; artistic director Joseph Staten, previously artistic lead on Halo; and artwork director Rafael Grassetti, previously of Sony Santa Monica. In line with the Sport File report, all three have left the corporate with the closure of the LA studio.
Netflix has a number of inside studios the place it’s constructing video games for its platform. It acquired the likes of Night time Faculty, Boss Struggle, Subsequent Video games and Spry Fox, and constructed two studios of its personal — other than Group Blue, it additionally has a studio in Helsinki. At current, these studios all look like intact, although a latest report from Enterprise Insider means that Netflix has laid off a number of folks inside its video games division.
The streaming firm has additionally shifted its video games technique this 12 months, as Mike Verdu, who spearheaded its video games initiative, shifted to a brand new function. It additionally employed Alain Tascan as its president of video games earlier this 12 months. Shortly earlier than Tascan’s hiring, Netflix’s VP of exterior video games Leanne Loombe advised the Washington Publish that the corporate needed to take a mobile-first strategy to video games launches, and talked about that Netflix’s subscribers seem to favor brief, “snackable” cellular video games.
