Netflix is putting together its own game studio to make “deeply engaging original games”

Streaming service providers have rather been dominating this week’s gaming headlines thus far, with a trailer for HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us having wowed fans of Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic zombie game.

However, the avalanche of positive reception to this short peek at live-action Joel and Ellie has led another announcement, by fellow streaming service Netflix, to fly under the radar a little.

This second reveal concerns a new internal games studio the streaming service is currently building up, with the hopes of making its own games in the near future.

Are you intrigued by the idea of playing a game developed by Netflix?

As discussed in a blog post by Netflix’s Vice President of Game Studios Amir Rahimi, the new studio will be headed up by industry veteran Marko Lastikka, a former vice president and general manager of Zynga, and, according to Rahimi, will play a key role in helping Netflix: “bring a variety of delightful and deeply engaging original games — with no ads and no in-app purchases — to (its) hundreds of millions of members around the world.”

The new studio is located in Helsinki, Finland, which is also the location of the established studio Next Games, which the streaming service provider acquired in March this year.

Working alongside Next Games, in addition to two other studios in Night School Studio and Boss Fight Entertainment, located in California and Texas respectively, Lastikka’s studio will seemingly be part of a Netflix strategy focused around breaking into the gaming space by producing a range of different games designed to cater to “diverse tastes”.

That said, don’t expect to play any of these games too soon, with Rahimi saying: “It’s still early days, and we have much more work to do to deliver a great games experience on Netflix. 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.”

Regardless of whether you’re looking forward to seeing what these titles end up having to offer, make sure to follow us for more coverage of important gaming news, such as Jeremy Corbyn going for the high score in a politically-themed Doom mod.

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