Netflix Is Closing More of Its Game Studios — Here's What's Going On
Netflix is shutting down two of its in-house game studios, Night School Studio and Moonloot Games, as the company shifts its gaming plans toward party games and titles you can play on your TV. The Verge confirmed the closures on August 13, 2026, with initial reporting by Game File and Variety.
Night School Studio was best known for the Oxenfree series, story-driven games with a strong focus on characters and dialogue. Netflix bought the studio in 2021, making it one of the company's first game studio purchases. The Verge The studio had recently released Unhinged, a horror experience for TVs, and in 2025 launched a mobile game tied to the show Black Mirror. Night School's last game shipped roughly six weeks before the shutdown was announced, according to VGC.
Moonloot Games, a studio based in Helsinki and founded in 2022, is also being closed. The Verge Variety independently reported the studio's shutdown alongside Night School's.
Netflix spokesperson Chrissy Kelleher said the company is making organizational changes to its games business to focus on four areas: kids, party, narrative, and what Netflix calls "mainstream" games. Kelleher confirmed that "some" additional roles are being eliminated beyond the two studio closures. The Verge
The cuts extend to individual contributors. Tara Voelker, who described herself as the "single accessibility person" on Netflix's gaming team, is among those affected. The Verge
These closures are part of a longer pattern. In October 2024, Netflix shut down Team Blue, a large studio in Southern California that was working on big-budget games. Game File By December 2025, Netflix had sold Spry Fox back to its co-founders, David Edery and Daniel Cook, who regained ownership rather than seeing the studio dissolved. Game File Netflix's other past acquisitions included Next Games and Boss Fight Entertainment, alongside Night School and Spry Fox. Game File
The trajectory is clear. Netflix entered gaming by buying studios, built up a collection covering story-driven adventures, mobile games, and mid-range titles, and has since been steadily narrowing that down. Team Blue was cut first. Spry Fox was returned to its founders. Now Night School, one of the most recognizable names in the portfolio, and Moonloot, a relatively young studio, are being closed entirely.
The stated strategy suggests Netflix wants games to be something you play on your TV from the couch, rather than a separate mobile gaming business. Night School's Unhinged, a TV-based horror experience, fits that direction, yet the studio was still closed. Even studios making content that matches the new strategy are not guaranteed survival.
Stephen Totilo, writing for Game File, framed the closures as part of Netflix's continuing shrinkage of its internal game studio operation. That framing is accurate. Each closure or sale since late 2024 has reduced the number of studios Netflix directly operates, and the company has not announced new studio acquisitions to replace them.
The loss of a sole dedicated accessibility specialist at a company of Netflix's resources tells you something about the internal priority level of the games effort more clearly than any press statement could. For developers watching from outside, the signal is mixed. Netflix is still in gaming and is building for TV streaming and party experiences. But the days of buying established studios and giving them broad creative freedom appear to be over, replaced by a narrower, more specific plan.
Whether that narrower focus produces a lasting games business or simply a slower exit will depend on whether TV-streamed titles can attract and keep an audience that has so far shown limited interest in Netflix's mobile games.
