Following the announcement of its acquisition of Sydney-based animation company Animal Logic, which has produced blockbuster films such as Happy Feet, The Lego Movie, and Peter Rabbit, Netflix has announced the establishment of its own gaming studio in Helsinki, Finland.
The idea is to produce original games for subscribers with no in-app microtransactions, employing Zynga’s Marko Lastikka as the new studio head.
“This is another step in our vision to build a world-class games studio that will bring a variety of delightful and deeply engaging original games — with no ads and no in-app purchases — to our hundreds of millions of members around the world,” writes Amir Rahimi, VP of Netflix Game Studios.
Finland was said to be the preferred option due to the country’s enormous reservoir of talent. Netflix acquired the Helsinki-based firm Next Games earlier this year, as well as Night School Studio and Boss Fight Entertainment. To create a varied spectrum of games, the four studios will concentrate on their respective areas of competence.
Rahimi notes that the internal games studio is still in its early stages, and that much more work is needed to bring the in-house projects to reality. “Creating a game can take years, so I’m proud to see how we’re steadily building the foundation of our games studios in our first year, and look forward to sharing what we produce in the coming years,” he says.
According to a recent report, only 1.7 million individuals interact with Netflix’s games on a daily basis, accounting for roughly 1% of the company’s 221 million overall customers. Netflix continues to expand its presence in the video game business, with plans to increase its catalog from 24 to 50 games by the end of the year.
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