Back in 2021, developer Night School Studio became the first studio that Netflix acquired as they continue their path in the video game industry. Finnish Studio Moonlot was also acquired by Netflix after being founded in 2022. However, Game File is reporting that the streaming service has decided to close both studios.
Netflix is shutting down Oxenfree studio Night School, six weeks after its last game Unhinged was released.https://t.co/r5JpuiZeJB pic.twitter.com/KgP7YKZSWL
— VGC (@VGC_News) August 13, 2026
Night School Studio released the critically acclaimed indie Oxenfree, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, Afterparty, and more. Most recently, they released Unhinged, a new immersive horror game experience starring Zoe Kravitz, Sadie Sink, and Troy Baker. The game launched on Netflix six weeks ago on June 30.
Overall, the game was a success to the streaming service with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters saying in a call with investors that the game had “really solid numbers.”
Moonlit was reportedly working on an Animal Crossing-style life sim game.
Netflix said that the closures were made due to prioritizing kid games, party games, story-driven fare, and games with mainstream hooks, such as the recently released FIFA game. Netflix is also cutting jobs from its internal games team but declined to say how many were being lost by the cutbacks.
“We see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities,” a Netflix spokesperson told Game File.
“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 rep said.
Since its venture into the video game industry, Netflix has made some changes. Back in 2024, they shut down Team Blue, which was aimed to be its AAA studio. They spent the past few years acquiring a number of veteran developers to be a part of it. This included former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny, Halo veteran Joseph Staten and former Sony Santa Monica art director Raf Grassetti. All three left Netflix following the closure of Team Blue.
The next month, Netflix removed almost all of its interactive specials. These played out like branching stories with players making decisions that would progress the story in different directions. 20 of its 24 interactive specials were removed by December 1, and the rest – including an episode of Black Mirror were removed in 2025.
