Why the 'Oxenfree II' team became Netflix's first game studio

engadget.com:

In early 2021, Night School was in the market for a partnership. The studio’s debut game, Oxenfree, was a breakout success in 2016, and it was followed by Afterparty in 2019 and then 2020’s Next Stop Nowhere, an Apple Arcade exclusive. By 2021, co-founders Sean Krankel and Adam Hines had made deals with the major players in the industry – Xbox, PlayStation, Valve, Nintendo, Apple – and Night School was an acclaimed indie team.

“We were actually talking to Netflix about just bringing some of our existing games over,” Night School co-founder Sean Krankel said at Summer Game Fest, sitting with co-founder Adam Hines and lead developer Bryant Cannon around a small table behind the demo hall.

Krankel said Night School wasn’t in danger of collapsing or laying off any staff in 2021. He and Hines had about 20 employees, they were still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, and they were interested in establishing real stability at the studio. Maybe they’d even find a buyer. They were casually talking with Netflix employee Bill Holmes – whom Krankel described as “the reason why there's a Netflix button on our TV remotes” – about potential publishing deals, nothing more.

“It's like another normal conversation with any first party,” Krankel said. “And then, one day, he literally says, ‘Would you ever be interested in joining?’ And I'm like, hummina hummina – yes. Totally.”

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Night School was the first video game team that Netflix purchased outright, and the deal was announced on September