The Team Blue studio will never have had the opportunity to publish a AAA game under the control of Netflix. The SVOD giant has quietly closed its video game studio.
Netflix is currently the great champion of the SVOD market, this famous type of service which allows you to watch series and films via a subscription. His name has almost become synonymous with the practice.
For several years, Netflix has been playing the diversification card, particularly in video games. It is possible to play certain games thanks to your Netflix subscription and the giant has even bought certain studios, such as the developers ofOxenFree.
Netflix is already moving backwards
The knowledgeable journalist Stephen Totilo was able to get a scoop: Netflix is already closing its flagship development studio.
At the same time as the acquisitions, Netflix had set up its own AAA game studio. This is what we call industry blockbusters.
The firm had recruited industry veterans like Chacko Sonny from Blizzard (Overwatch), Joseph Staten of 343 Industries and Bungie (Halo) or Rafael Grassetti of Sony Santa Monica (God of War).
Ultimately, these people will never have had the opportunity to publish their new project together. That’s two years of work going to waste and for which the developers will not be able to indicate anything on their CV. In the industry, you have to release a game and be credited to be able to add it to your portfolio.
Tech can’t make video games
The disappearance of Netflix’s AAA studio marks a further decline in new entrants to the video game industry. A few years ago, Google already closed its Stadia branch with the associated studios.
Of the historic tech giants, only Microsoft seems to have succeeded in anchoring its place in the video game industry through Windows and the Xbox ecosystem. Even the latter is in difficulty today…
Video games thus show that it is a very particular entertainment industry that cannot be integrated only with dollars.
