Image: Netflix
Two years and zero games later, Netflix has shut down its own AAA game studio.
Netflix opened up an internal game studio called ‘Blue’ all the way back in 2022, with the intent of producing AAA games for the streaming service. It even went so far as to recruit veteran gaming talent like ex-Halo creative lead Joseph Staten and ex-God of War art director Rafael Grassetti for the studio.
According to a recent Game File report however, Netflix has now shut down team Blue and that most of its leading talent have already left the company. The studio was said to be developing a AAA multiplatform game based on an original IP before the shutdown.
Netflix still expanding into video games despite AAA studio shutdown
Netflix has shut down its AAA game studio in Southern California, according to a recent report from Game File. The studio was known as team Blue, and was one of a “handful” of game studios set up by the streamer as part of a big foray into the games industry. Netflix has plenty of mobile games available on its mobile app as of right now, but the plan was for the company to introduce big-budget games into the mix for multiple platforms.
Potentially, that means we could’ve gotten Netflix games on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X|S. Team Blue made a few big hires to work on a AAA game based on an original IP, starting with Overwatch’s executive producer Chacko Sonny in 2022. In 2023, it made its biggest hire yet: ex-Halo creative lead Joseph Staten, who exited Xbox Game Studios and his work on Halo Infinite to join the game studio. Halo developer 343 Industries has since rebranded itself as Halo Studios, and is hard at work on the next Halo game.
Team Blue also added art director Rafael Grassetti to its team in 2023, who previously worked on the God of War franchise at Sony Santa Monica. According to the report, all three of these games industry veterans are no longer at Team Blue. The studio itself was shut down sometime this month, but Netflix still has a few other game studios in operation. It recently acquired Night School Studio and Spry Fox, the developers of Oxenfree and Cozy Grove respectively. It also has another internal game studio in Helsinki.
While it appears that the company is still going full steam ahead on breaking into the games industry, it is now less likely that it plans to release a big-budget multiplatform game anytime soon.