Netflix acquires Oxenfree developer Night School Studio
Will "keep making" Oxenfree 2.
Night School Studio, the developer behind acclaimed narrative adventure Oxenfree and its highly anticipated sequel, has been acquired by Netflix.
Night School has gained a reputation for creating engaging, sharply written adventures with a strong focus on narrative across the four games it's launched since its founding in 2014. After 2016's critically lauded Oxenfree, the developer released a well-received Mr. Robot tie-in, 1.51exfiltrati0n, followed by pub-crawl-through-hell adventure Afterparty and the Apple-exclusive space escapade Next Stop Nowhere. Notably, given the acquisition news, the studio was also reported to have been developing an unannounced Stranger Things project in conjunction with Telltale Games at one time, before the latter company's collapse.
More recently, Night School confirmed it's working on an Oxenfree sequel, Lost Signals, for release on Switch, PlayStation, and PC next year.
Announcing the Netflix acquisition on its blog, Night School explained the streaming service "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."
There's no indication of what the studio might be working on for Netflix, but it reassured fans it will "keep making" Oxenfree 2. "For now, there's a kaleidoscope of butterflies in our team's collective stomachs," it concluded, "Because we truly believe we've got a chance to positively impact the way people discover, play, and share story games with each other."
Today's announcement follows further developments in Netflix's steadily expanding video game strategy as it launches three new mobile titles to subscribers in Poland, Italy, and Spain.