Netflix closing Oxenfree developer Night School Studio and Moonloot Games

Netflix is closing two game studios as part of its ongoing pullback on internal game development. The company confirmed it will shut down Los Angeles-based Night School Studio and Helsinki-based Moonloot Games, along with additional layoffs across its internal games teams.

Night School Studio, acquired by Netflix in 2021 as the company’s first developer acquisition, is best known for the acclaimed Oxenfree series and sequel Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals. The studio also developed Afterparty and was working on a Black Mirror game with series creator Charlie Brooker. Moonloot, founded by Netflix in 2022, has not released any titles but was developing an unannounced life-simulation project, led by veteran executive Marko Lastikka from Digital Chocolate, EA, and Zynga.

The timing has drawn scrutiny within the gaming community. Just weeks before the closure announcement, Night School released Unhinged, a 30-minute interactive horror experience playable on televisions with smartphones as controllers, featuring voice acting from Zoë Kravitz, Sadie Sink, and Troy Baker. Despite its success, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters had recently called Unhinged one of the company’s “two most successful cloud game debuts” during an investor call.

Netflix justified the closures by stating it is “narrowing focus in execution” to concentrate on specific categories: kids’ games, party games, story-driven narratives, and mainstream titles. The company cited successes including Netflix Playground, Netflix Minigolf, and FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition.

These closures follow Netflix’s earlier shutdowns of Team Blue in 2024 and Boss Fight Entertainment in 2023, continuing a pattern of significant restructuring in its gaming division.

Netflix closing Oxenfree developer Night School Studio and Moonloot Games

Sources