Streaming giant Netflix has laid off staff at Oxenfree developer Night School Studio.
According to Game Developer, an unspecified number of workers were told their services were no longer required last month, which came as a shock to the indie games company.
Netflix declined to comment on the report.
Best known for its Oxenfree games, Night School Studio was bought by Netflix in 2021 as part of the streaming giant’s ongoing plans to expand into interactive entertainment.
Night School Studio’s first game Oxenfree was acclaimed upon its initial launch in 2016. The side-scrolling narrative adventure story featured a group of teens caught up in some creepy sci-fi shenanigans, and received praise for its dialogue and atmosphere.
The studio’s 2019 follow-up Afterparty, about a character who tried to best Satan in a drinking game, did not seem to hit the same level of recognition. In 2023, Night School Studio returned to Oxenfree with a direct sequel – Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, which was well received.
It’s currently unclear what Night School Studio is working on next, though today’s report states that the company’s layoffs will not change its product pipeline.
In October 2024, Netflix closed a major internal game studio led by Halo creative head Joseph Staten, and seemingly scrapped its big budget game before it was ever announced.
Earlier this month, Netflix celebrated its biggest quarterly subscriber increase in history by increasing UK prices yet again.
