Netflix has acquired Oxenfree developer Night School Studio
A few months after hinting that it wanted to break into game development, Netflix has acquired its first major studio.
Netflix has acquired Night School Studio, the indie developer behind the cult hit Oxenfree and its upcoming sequel, as the streaming giant makes its first meaningful steps into the games industry.
As per a post on the Night School Studio blog, the developer is pleased with the acquisition, and believes it'll help it further its goal of explorating interactive narrative projects.
"Night School wants to stretch our narrative and design aspirations across distinctive, original games with heart," reads the blog. "Netflix gives film, TV, and now game makers an unprecedented canvas to create and deliver excellent entertainment to millions of people. Our explorations in narrative gameplay and Netflix’s track record of supporting diverse storytellers was such a natural pairing. It felt like both teams came to this conclusion instinctively."
Night School has got experience working with TV and film tie-in projects; it worked on Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n back in 2016, and it was a pretty good experience for iOS and Android.
"Of course, it’s a surreal honor to be the first games studio to join Netflix! Not only do we get to keep doing what we do, how we like to do it, but we get a front-row seat on the biggest entertainment platform in the world. The Netflix team has shown the utmost care for protecting our studio culture and creative vision. We’ll keep making OXENFREE II. We’ll keep cooking up new game worlds," the blog continues.
Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is still coming to all announced platforms – including Nintendo Switch.
The supernatural narrative adventure game tells the tale of a researcher who stumbles upon ghostly happenings. Taking place five years after Oxenfree, in it, Riley returns to her hometown of Camena to investigate mysterious radio frequency signals causing curious disturbances.
Netflix has been making more and more headway into the games industry lately; the company has been in contact with various “veteran game industry executives," as well as making games based on its own IP.
It'll be interesting to see where the company goes next.