Netflix building its own internal games studio

Netflix has acquired several games developers in the last few months to strengthen its content portfolio, but the company does not want to rely solely on third-party teams. The streaming giant has announced that it is ready to establish a new internal games studio in Helsinki, Finland, with Marko Lastikka as the studio director. Netflix believes that its in-house games studio will develop a variety of “delightful and deeply engaging original” titles.

Netflix has also clarified that its original titles will be free of advertisements and in-app purchases. As for why it chose Helsinki to develop its in-house games studio, the streaming company has said that the Capital city of Finland has some of the best game talents in the world. The Walking Dead mobile developer Next Games, acquired by Netflix earlier this year, is also based in Helsinki.

In an official blog post, Amir Rahimi, VP of Netflix Games Studio, wrote:

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.

Netflix might build more such internal games studios from scratch in the future if it succeeds in its gaming strategy. Besides that, it might also acquire more third-party developers to bolster its library. The streaming giant says that its gaming business is at a nascent stage and that it has much more work to do to deliver a great gaming experience on Netflix. Hopefully, we will soon hear more from the company about its upcoming original titles.

If you are a gamer, are you excited about Netflix’s upcoming original titles? You can share your thoughts in the comments section.