Netflix shutters 2 game studios, including Unhinged maker Night School

Netflix keeps striking out on games. The latest news is that the streaming giant has shut down two more game studios, Moonloot, which hadn’t released a game; and Night School (Oxenfree), which had just released the interactive movie game Unhinged. Stephen Totilo at Game File reported the news first. This leaves Netflix with just one internal game studio and relationships with a number of third parties. Yet Netflix told Game File that it continues to be interested in games. “Games continue to be an opportunity for us to expand the variety of entertainment we offer Netflix members,” the Netflix rep told Game File. It’s not clear how many jobs were lost. Plans are under way to close Moonloot. “Games continue to be an opportunity for us to expand the variety of entertainment we offer Netflix members, and we’ve built solid foundations in our key focus areas,” said a spokesperson for Netflix, in a statement. Those current games include: Kids (Netflix Playground), Party (Netflix Minigolf), Narrative (Unhinged) and Mainstream (FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition). “We’re especially excited about the momentum we’re seeing with cloud games and kids games,” the spokesperson said. “As we continue to prioritize these areas, we see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities.” Much of the shutdowns seem related to the prior leadership of Netflix Games, formerly led by Mike Verdu from 2021 to 2024. Verdu focused on building internal studios and acquiring external studios, with a focus on mobile. Verdu’s game division acquired Los Angeles-based Night School in 2021 and Helsinki-based Moonloot in 2022. Night School, which made Oxenfree 2 for Netflix and a Black Mirror game, released Unhinged in June. That was a 30-minute first-person horror game on Netflix. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peter said the game hit solid numbers. But it didn’t take long for Netflix to decide to close the studio. The company said, “We’re grateful for Night School’s work in pushing the boundaries of storytelling through games with Unhinged.” In 2024, Netlfix shut down Team Blue, which was making a high-end first-person shooter game for the service with developers who worked on Call of Duty and Halo previously, Totilo reported. And in October, Netflix shut down Boss Fight, which worked on Squid Game on mobile. Delphi Interactive, in the meantime, made the Netflix FIFA game that debuted during the World Cup. After Verdu left, Alain Tascan signed on as head of games in 2024 at Netflix. He shifted the strategy from mobile games to games played on TVs and PCs, via streamed connections, with phones used as controllers. Unhinged work that way. Delphi had to pull the plug on development after Netflix ended funding, with the result being the layoffs of 85% of the staff at Delphi’s contractor studio, Refactor Games. In December 2025, Netflix sold cozy game studio Spry Fox back to its founders. Netflix has a central gaming team working with external developers and its last remaining studio is Helsinki-based Next Games, which made couch-centric party games. “We are incredibly grateful to the talented colleagues we’re saying goodbye to today. We thank them for all their contributions to Netflix, and wish them the best,” the Netflix spokesperson said. The post Netflix shutters 2 game studios, including Unhinged maker Night School appeared first on GamesBeat.

Aug 14, 2026 - 08:33

Netflix shutters 2 game studios, including Unhinged maker Night School

Netflix keeps striking out on games. The latest news is that the streaming giant has shut down two more game studios, Moonloot, which hadn’t released a game; and Night School (Oxenfree), which had just released the interactive movie game Unhinged.

Stephen Totilo at Game File reported the news first. This leaves Netflix with just one internal game studio and relationships with a number of third parties. Yet Netflix told Game File that it continues to be interested in games.

“Games continue to be an opportunity for us to expand the variety of entertainment we offer Netflix members,” the Netflix rep told Game File.

It’s not clear how many jobs were lost. Plans are under way to close Moonloot.

“Games continue to be an opportunity for us to expand the variety of entertainment we offer Netflix members, and we’ve built solid foundations in our key focus areas,” said a spokesperson for Netflix, in a statement.

Those current games include: Kids (Netflix Playground), Party (Netflix Minigolf), Narrative (Unhinged) and Mainstream (FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition).

“We’re especially excited about the momentum we’re seeing with cloud games and kids games,” the spokesperson said. “As we continue to prioritize these areas, we see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities.”

Much of the shutdowns seem related to the prior leadership of Netflix Games, formerly led by Mike Verdu from 2021 to 2024. Verdu focused on building internal studios and acquiring external studios, with a focus on mobile. Verdu’s game division acquired Los Angeles-based Night School in 2021 and Helsinki-based Moonloot in 2022.

Night School, which made Oxenfree 2 for Netflix and a Black Mirror game, released Unhinged in June. That was a 30-minute first-person horror game on Netflix. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peter said the game hit solid numbers. But it didn’t take long for Netflix to decide to close the studio.

The company said, “We’re grateful for Night School’s work in pushing the boundaries of storytelling through games with Unhinged.”

In 2024, Netlfix shut down Team Blue, which was making a high-end first-person shooter game for the service with developers who worked on Call of Duty and Halo previously, Totilo reported.

And in October, Netflix shut down Boss Fight, which worked on Squid Game on mobile. Delphi Interactive, in the meantime, made the Netflix FIFA game that debuted during the World Cup.

After Verdu left, Alain Tascan signed on as head of games in 2024 at Netflix. He shifted the strategy from mobile games to games played on TVs and PCs, via streamed connections, with phones used as controllers. Unhinged work that way.

Delphi had to pull the plug on development after Netflix ended funding, with the result being the layoffs of 85% of the staff at Delphi’s contractor studio, Refactor Games. In December 2025, Netflix sold cozy game studio Spry Fox back to its founders.

Netflix has a central gaming team working with external developers and its last remaining studio is Helsinki-based Next Games, which made couch-centric party games.

“We are incredibly grateful to the talented colleagues we’re saying goodbye to today. We thank them for all their contributions to Netflix, and wish them the best,” the Netflix spokesperson said.

The post Netflix shutters 2 game studios, including Unhinged maker Night School appeared first on GamesBeat.

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