Six weeks. That’s how long it took Netflix to go from praising a studio’s numbers in front of investors to shutting that studio down.
Night School Studio, the Los Angeles developer behind Oxenfree, is closing. As first reported by Game File, Netflix is significantly stripping back its current involvement in the gaming sector, though the company says it remains committed to pursuing gaming overall.
Night School was one of the first developers Netflix acquired back in 2021, when the streamer started buying studios in earnest for a dedicated gaming department. That department began with mobile experiences before reaching for more ambitious work. The reach, evidently, exceeded the grasp.
The timing is the part that stings
Night School released Unhinged, a 30-minute horror experience, roughly six weeks ago. It did well for the company, at least by the account of Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters, who cited “really solid numbers” in a meeting with investors.
Then the studio got closed anyway.
If you never played Oxenfree, here’s the pitch: a group of friends accidentally open a ghostly rift, and then have to do something about it. It’s a supernatural thriller that stayed hugely underrated for years, and it’s the reason anyone knew Night School’s name in the first place.
After the acquisition, the team put out a sequel, a mobile version of the original and another project tied to Black Mirror. Not a bad run for a studio that spent its independent life making moody teen ghost stories.
What Netflix says it wants instead
A Netflix representative gave Game File a brief statement explaining the decision, confirming the streaming giant is refocusing its gaming efforts toward kids and party games, plus narrative efforts and existing IPs like FIFA World Cup.
“We see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities,” the spokesperson said. “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.”
Read that priority list again. Kids games, party games, licensed sports. It’s a lineup built to keep a subscription warm, not to win over people who care who made Oxenfree.
A long way from the DVD envelopes
Netflix has come a long way since posting DVD and Blu-ray rentals, growing into one of the largest companies on the planet and the biggest streaming service in the world, with over 325 million subscribers. Growth plans in recent years pushed past TV and movies entirely, and gaming was supposed to be the next room in the house.
It’ll be interesting to see what the gaming efforts look like from here. But the company clearly feels overleveraged right now, and scaling back operations is how you minimize risk to a department you’re not ready to abandon.
Which leaves one small, awkward fact on the table: the last thing Night School ever shipped was a horror game with really solid numbers.
