Netflix is closing Night School Studio, the developer behind Oxenfree, along with Helsinki-based Moonloot Games, according to reporting from Game File that was picked up by multiple outlets. The company is also cutting an unspecified number of jobs across its internal games teams, with the total number of affected staff undisclosed.
Night School was the first developer Netflix ever acquired, brought in back in 2021 as the streaming company pushed into games. Moonloot, founded in 2022 and led by Marko Lastikka, had no announced projects but was reportedly working on a title in the vein of Animal Crossing. That game will not now see release.
Timing that stings
The closure comes only six weeks after Night School shipped Unhinged, a Netflix exclusive horror game starring Zoë Kravitz and Sadie Sink that paired phone and TV screens for its interactive narrative. Netflix had recently singled out Unhinged as one of its most successful cloud debuts, alongside Refactor Games' FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition. Eurogamer's own review floated Night School as a potential "secret weapon" for Netflix if the studio were given more room to work.
Night School built its reputation on gentle, walk-and-talk horror. Oxenfree arrived in 2016, and the sequel Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals followed in 2023, released unchanged after the acquisition. The studio also made Afterparty and the Black Mirror companion game Thronglets, which blended god-sim and tamagotchi ideas with fourth-wall-breaking moments.
In a statement shared with Game File, a Netflix spokesperson said the company sees "an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities." The rep added, "We are incredibly grateful to the talented colleagues we're saying goodbye to today." Rock Paper Shotgun notes that one of the internal team members cut was the company's only games accessibility staffer.
A pattern of pullback
These closures continue a run of retreats from what once looked like an aggressive games push. Netflix redefined its games strategy around four pillars: mainstream games, narrative games, party games, and kids games. The company says it wants to prioritise those areas, along with "story-driven fare" and "games with mainstream hooks."
The list of casualties has grown steadily:
- A triple-A studio led by a former Halo creative director was axed in 2024, the same year Netflix cancelled six game launches.
- Squid Game developer Boss Fight was closed in October 2025, with 26 of its developers going on to form a new studio.
- Cosy online-game maker Spry Fox was sold back to its founders in December.
- Ustwo, its Monument Valley 3 partner, is now pushing back toward PC-first development after that game was pulled from the service.
GamesIndustry.biz reports that Next Games, the party-game maker Netflix bought in 2022 for roughly 65 million euros, is now the company's only internal studio, working alongside its games team that partners with outside developers.
What it means for players
If you were hoping Netflix would keep funding thoughtful narrative games like Oxenfree and Unhinged, the direction is now clear: kids and party games are the priority, and the more experimental work is out. Anyone who enjoyed Unhinged should not expect a follow-up, and Moonloot's Animal Crossing-style project is cancelled before it was ever formally shown. For players tracking upcoming releases, the takeaway is that Netflix's games slate is shrinking rather than growing.