Netflix Acquired Night School Studio. Here's What's Next

Last week, Netflix announced it had acquired Night School Studio, developer of the Oxenfree bid and Afterparty. During a caller interview, we concisely chatted with Night School's co-founder and workplace manager Sean Krankel astir the caller concern and what it means for some the studio's contiguous and semipermanent future. 

Night School is presently processing Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, planned to beryllium released sometime adjacent year. As Krankel tells us, the Netflix acquisition has nary interaction connected the game's development; Oxenfree 2 is inactive connected track. Despite present owning the studio, Netflix isn't progressive with this peculiar task – MWM Interactive is publishing Oxenfree II. 

But pursuing Oxenfree II's release, Netflix volition instrumentality implicit arsenic Night School's publisher. Night School is the archetypal workplace the streaming elephantine has acquired during its propulsion into the crippled industry. Back successful July, Bloomberg reported Netflix had hired Mike Verdu to assistance pb its video crippled division. Before Netflix, Verdu served arsenic an enforcement astatine EA and Facebook, moving connected mobile gaming astatine the erstwhile and developer relationships for Oculus astatine the latter. As Netflix develops its crippled platform, Krankel says Night School volition assistance signifier that aboriginal alongside the company.

"It truly was this precise – I hatred overusing the connection organic, but it conscionable benignant of came unneurotic organically," Krankel tells us. "We were not buying ourselves around, and we got to a constituent wherever the much we talked to them, the much our visions truly aligned for what we similar to bash and wherever they privation to caput with the platform."

"I deliberation the mode I would deliberation astir the acquisition is overmuch much like, what's mode down the horizon?" Krankel says. "Where bash we caput with that? And that's worldly arsenic they make the platform, we get to assistance signifier immoderate of that with them, and we'll fig retired our adjacent concepts down the road. But arsenic of close now, yeah, Oxenfree II is our main focus, and they [Netflix] don't privation to alteration people connected that adjacent a small bit."

This acquisition isn't the archetypal clip the 2 companies person been progressive with each other. As The Verge reported successful 2019, citing anonymous sources from some Night School and Telltale Games, Night School was processing a never-announced video crippled adaptation of Netflix's deed series, Stranger Things. Telltale Games was the game's publisher, but erstwhile the workplace closed successful 2018 (before being effectively revived astatine the extremity of 2019), arsenic 1 root told The Verge, the crippled "just benignant of evaporated," ne'er officially being canceled. 

According to Krankel, Night School's existent woody with Netflix is wholly removed from its anterior clip moving with Telltale connected a Stranger Things game. While helium did corroborate the validity of the study and the game's development, helium tells america the 2 events were "totally unrelated.”

"I deliberation adjacent arsenic we started talking to them precocious – basically, we've been talking to them for possibly six, 7 months astir a assortment of antithetic projects – but I don't adjacent cognize if they knew that we were making a Stranger Things game," Krankel says, laughing. "So yeah, that decidedly – that was america moving straight with Telltale connected that, truthful we didn't person arsenic overmuch of a nonstop connection." 

The games that travel retired of Night School and Netflix's caller concern stay to beryllium seen. However, Krankel tells america that during conversations earlier the acquisition, the 2 parties were successful lock-step. Night School has been praised for its escapade genre work, specifically however it approaches naturalistic dialog and branching storytelling. As the developer continues expanding upon these ideas, Krankel tells america Netflix is wholly down Night School's vision. 

"It conscionable truly grew organically retired of america talking astir visions for games and wanting to marque games that fto radical interact with [stories] successful caller ways," Krankel says. "We don't privation to templatize what we do, but alternatively we privation to support pushing guardant connected either brand-new communicative ideas oregon brand-new mechanics ideas, and each of that was like, 'Check, check, check. That sounds awesome to us,' erstwhile we were talking to Netflix."

Night School Studio's adjacent game, Oxenfree II, is planned for a 2022 merchandise connected PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.