Netflix closes its star-studded AAA studio before it announces a game

By Carli Velocci Published October 22, 2024

Derek Malcolm / Digital Trends

Netflix has reportedly shut down its internal studio, referred to as Blue, which was made up of AAA video game industry veterans. The team was never officially announced even one game.

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According to a report from Game File, the streaming service giant closed the Southern California studio as of this month. While it was one of many internal Netflix studios working on new titles, Blue stood out thanks to a series of high-profile hires over the past couple years.

Netflix never officially announced what Blue was working on, but there were hints if you knew where to look. MobileGamer.biz spotted some job listings in November 2022 that mentioned Netflix was working on “a brand-new AAA PC game” and needed people with experience working on first-person or third-person shooters. This would have been a big departure for the company. While it had just started ramping up video game development at this point, it was mostly focused on mobile titles, and this signified that it was looking into a multi-platform strategy.

This was further bolstered by the industry veterans hired to lead the studio. Former executive producer on Overwatch Chacko Sonny left Blizzard in 2021 amid the fallout from an explosive lawsuit, and was tapped to lead Blue. Former God of War art director Rafael Grassetti was also hired in 2023, followed by Joseph Staten, who had worked on Halo games at Bungie and was hired by 343 Industries to get Halo Infinite over the finish line. Staten’s X (formerly Twitter) account says Blue was also working on an “original IP.”

While none of the executives have commented publicly on the shutdown, Grassetti did post an out-of-context popcorn gif. You can interpret that as you wish. Game File says all three executives are no longer with Netflix.

Netflix still has four internal studios currently working on titles. It acquired Oxenfree developer Night School Studio, mobile game developer Next Games, and Boss Fight Entertainment, and set up a studio in Helsinki in 2022. It also publishes third-party games on its platform, which is accessible to anybody with a Netflix subscription. Some games you can play include Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Spiritfarer, Into the Breach, and Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

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