(Credit: Netlfix)
Netflix has scrapped a series of interactive fiction games based on its original shows.
As PocketGamer reports, Netflix Stories includes narrative-focused games that take you inside shows like Virgin River, Love Is Blind, Emily in Paris, Outer Banks, and Perfect Match. Existing games will continue to be available from the Netflix Stories app on iOS and Android, but the lack of future development means layoffs in the Stories division at Netflix.
The news follows the streaming giant shutting down Team Blue, an in-house game developer thought to have been working on a high-budget first-person shooter, back in October. But this doesn’t mean Netflix is retreating from the world of mobile gaming entirely; it still has some fairly ambitious gaming projects in the pipeline.
Last month, Netflix announced a massively multiplayer online game known as Spirit Crossing, offering players a "cozy," anime-inspired aesthetic and the chance to interact with other players.
At GDC earlier this month, Netflix's games head, Alain Tascan, said the studio is still interested in delivering gaming tie-ins to its most popular series. According to Variety, Tascan talked about the potential of "blending linear and interactive storytelling," noting how “crazy interesting things” could be done with IP like Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and One Piece.
Netflix's top brass, and other gaming executives, have also been vocal about merging AI and games (developers are less enthusiastic). In November, Mike Verdu was named VP of GenAI for Games at Netflix, and argued that today’s generative AI technology could help developers pump out new games on a monthly basis, like how the game industry did during the 1990s at Nintendo and Sega. By February, however, Verdu had left Netflix.