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The developer behind Oxenfree Night School Studio has announced last night that it’s been acquired by streaming giant Netflix.
An open letter from the studio’s founder Sean Krankel broke the news. “Night School wants to stretch our narrative and design aspirations across distinctive, original games with heart,” they said. “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”.
The Night School Studio team has become Netflix’s first games studio acquisition, which Krankel called a “surreal honor”. He added “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”. Those worried about the follow-up to the excellent 2016 adventure Oxenfree should rest easy though. Krankel says “We’ll keep making Oxenfree II. We’ll keep cooking up new game worlds.”
Netflix first announced their intentions to make more significant moves into the video game space back in July. The company’s own statement on the acquisition also revealed a little more about these gaming plans. “Like our shows and films, these games will all be included as part of your Netflix membership — all with no ads and no in-app purchases. Stay tuned for more.”
Does this mean Oxenfree II: Lost Signals could release on Netflix too? We’ll have to wait and see. The game doesn’t have a release date yet, but is in development for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
📣 Small team of story-loving game people joins big team of game-loving story people, @Netflix.https://t.co/xJvtYUJVNZ
— Night School Studio (@nightschoolers) September 28, 2021
