Netflix's "Team Blue" of Halo, Overwatch and God Of War vets close without a single game to their name
Netflix have shut down one of their more trumpeted video game initiatives - a Californian studio known as team "Blue" and stocked with former Halo, God Of War and Overwatch developers. It was a major plank in Netflix's on-going efforts to extend their film and TV streaming empire to what Nic insists on calling the "greasy screen".
The news comes via Gamefile and Stephen Totillo, who cites a company representative. Netflix have yet to make a formal announcement. Team Blue's members included former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny and former God Of War art director Rafael Grassetti. According to Joseph Staten - an original Halo developer who joined Team Blue in April 2023 after helping 343 Industries polish off Halo Infinite - they were working on "a brand-new AAA multiplatform game and original IP".
Netflix have been trying to establish themselves as a gaming publisher and platform since around the turn of the decade. They began stocking mobile games on their store in 2021, and have splurged on a few studio purchases - Oxenfree 2 devs Night School Studio in 2021, then Next Games and Boss Fight Entertainment in 2022. In 2022, it also emerged that they were hiring in Los Angeles to develop a triple-A PC game.
Netflix trialled game streaming in August 2023, and approached Rockstar about bringing GTA to Netflix (you can now find the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy on the service). As of July 2024, Netflix Games had over 80 games in development, with around 100 available already. Whether they are seeing returns on all this investment is another question. Also in July 2024, co-CEO and president Gregory K Peters conceded that engagement with games on Netflix remains "quite small".
As Kotaku's John Walker (RPS in peace) observes, the closure of Team Blue isn't wholly surprising. Netflix do not have much experience of founding and running their own game development teams, and "AAA" multiplatform originals crafted by seasoned blockbuster devs are pricey - the kind of
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