Netflix Shuts Down Oxenfree Studio Night School Weeks After Praising Its 'Really Solid Numbers'

Key Points:

• Netflix is closing Night School Studio, its first acquired game studio, and plans to shut down its Helsinki-based Moonloot Games, while also cutting jobs from its in-house games team to focus on kids gaming, party games, narrative experiences, and mainstream titles.
• Night School Studio, acquired in 2021, produced titles like Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, Black Mirror: Thronglets, and Unhinged, with the latter two being among Netflix's most successful cloud game debuts.
• Despite Netflix co-CEO Gregory Peters praising Night School's Unhinged and the FIFA World Cup game during the Q2 2026 earnings call, the company is restructuring its gaming division following challenges including layoffs at third-party developer Refactor Games.
• Netflix's video game division expanded rapidly from 2021 to 2024, acquiring multiple studios and hiring industry veterans, but after appointing Alain Tascan as head in 2024, the company has since closed or sold all but two studios.
• Currently, Netflix retains only Helsinki-based Next Games and Netflix Games Studio, with Spry Fox managing to buy itself back and continue independent development.