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Netflix acquires Oxenfree maker Night School Studio

Date Type Companies involved Size
September 29th, 2021 acquisition Netflix
Night School Studio
Not disclosed
Netflix acquires Oxenfree maker Night School Studio

Streaming platform Netflix has bought its first game developer in Night School Studio.

The firm announced that it was joining the media giant in a post on its website, describing it as a "surreal honour." No figure has been placed on the deal as of yet.

"Over the last few months, we’ve had countless thoughtful chats about our respective visions for where we see games, storytelling, and our collective opportunity for positive impact somewhere in the middle," co-founder Sean Krankel (pictured) said.

"Night School wants to stretch our narrative and design aspirations across distinctive, original games with heart. 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.

"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."

This news comes in the wake of reports that Netflix was getting into the games market with the hire of EA and Facebook vet Mike Verdu. The firm is initially focusing on mobile titles.

Night School Studio is an indie venture set up by Disney and Telltale vets Krankel and Adam Hines. The developer is best known for 2016's Oxenfree, which sold 1.5 million copies between release and March 2019 but boasted over three million installs.

At GDC 2019 we caught up with Night School to discuss the success of Oxenfree, its then-upcoming title Afterparty and the potential impact of Xbox Game Pass on the indie sector.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.