Netflix at present 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 known as Staff Blue, based in 2022 and primarily based 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.
Recreation File reported the closure, saying that Staff Blue was engaged on a “big-budget multi-device technique” on the time. To workers out this new studio, Netflix employed a number of recognizable names from main video games corporations — together with studio lead Chacko Sonny, previously Overwatch’s government producer; artistic director Joseph Staten, previously artistic lead on Halo; and artwork director Rafael Grassetti, previously of Sony Santa Monica. In keeping with the Recreation 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 College, Boss Combat, Subsequent Video games and Spry Fox, and constructed two studios of its personal — apart from Staff Blue, it additionally has a studio in Helsinki. At current, these studios all seem like intact, although a current 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 yr, 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 yr. Shortly earlier than Tascan’s hiring, Netflix’s VP of exterior video games Leanne Loombe advised the Washington Submit that the corporate wished to take a mobile-first strategy to video games launches, and talked about that Netflix’s subscribers seem to favor brief, “snackable” cell video games.
