After dominating the movie and TV streaming scene, Netflix has been trying to break into the gaming industry in recent years. However, it’s now confirmed that the company has shut down its AAA video game studio.
This news, first reported by Game File, was later confirmed by Netflix. The studio, called “Blue,” was working on a new original, multi-platform game and seemed to be progressing well.
Over the past few years, Netflix appeared fully committed to gaming. They even brought in top talent like Joseph Staten, who helped create Halo, and Chacko Sonn, who worked on Overwatch at Blizzard Entertainment.
While Netflix still has several other game studios around the world, Blue was their only AAA game studio. The closure may indicate Netflix is losing interest in developing large-scale games or is at least scaling back its ambitions in the gaming world.
Netflix first entered gaming in 2021 by releasing mobile games, and since then, they’ve added over 100 games to their catalog. These include popular titles like Grand Theft Auto and Hades, as well as games based on Netflix shows like Emily in Paris and Squid Game. The game Blue was working on was likely based on a Netflix property.
If Netflix is stepping back from AAA game development, they may continue focusing on mobile games. Once they’ve established a strong presence there, they might revisit developing larger-scale games in the future.