Netflix continues its push into gaming by Aquiring Night School Studio, a studio founded by former Telltale employees, that is most known for their coming of age horror game Oxenfree as well as their bar-hopping afterlife game Afterparty. Night School was quick to state after news of the acquisition that this will not affect the release plans for their upcoming Oxenfree 2.
In a Press Release, Night School Studio Co-founder Sean Krankel referred to the pairing of both companies as a “Natural” fit due to their development of narrative-driven games and Netflix’s commitment to “support diverse storytellers”. This was noted as the driving force that ultimately bought both companies together.
Sean Krankel Stated:
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.
This is the first studio acquisition that has been carried out by Netflix. We have known that the company has wanted to move into the game industry for some time now, and had even partnered with other studios such as Telltale on a since canceled Stranger Things adventure game. Now that they are owned by Netflix it is unclear what kind of project Night School Studio will undertake as a subsidiary.
Krankle however has stated that they will continue developing Oxenfree 2 which is due out next year on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. He also stated the studio Plans to “keep cooking up new game worlds” and that Netflix has so far “shown the utmost care for protecting our studio culture and creative vision.”
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