As of late, Netflix has been trying to dip its toes into the gaming scene. They even founded their own AAA game studio, to work on a secretive piece of original IP.

And... it's gone. The studio, once known only as "Blue," has officially shut down.

This studio had hired some big-name industry talent that, in theory, would turn out a fantastic product and make people view Netflix as a viable game platform. But for a reason likely to stay buried, that theory never turned into reality.

Among its staff, this game studio included Overwatch's Executive Producer, Chacko Sonny, and a Creative Lead known very well by Halo fans, Joseph Staten.

In addition to them, the studio hired alumni from Sony, Blizzard, Bungie, and more. It's unknown how many of those top hires arewithout a job. Netflix has said that some have been shuffled into other projects.

Whatever Blue was working on, it was likely something big. Talent like that does not come cheap, and it's doubtful that Netflix did not make this move lightly. "Sunk Cost" has brought many catastrophes over the finish line, but even the sunk cost fallacy couldn't save this one for whatever reason.

Netflix has said this shutdown does not imply a waning interest in gaming. They still want games on their platform, but an AAA-style game isn't likely to happen in the near future.

So what will they be doing instead? It's likely the same as what they're currently up to by providing smaller, more mobile-style experiences.

Shows based on games have also done reasonably well on the platform, most notably with Arcane. Video games will likely remain on Netflix's periphery, but they won't be launching any consoles soon.

Recently, Netflix's business model seems far more similar to things like Xbox's Game Pass than anything else. Which makes sense, given how much Netflix's business model inspired Game Pass and others.

They'd clearly instead stick with what they're good at. And if that means being a subscription service for other people's media, then that's what they'll do.

Posted: Oct 31, 2024 9:10 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/netflix-aaa-game-studio-shut-down/