Netflix retreats from its blockbuster video-game ambitions as the industry glitches

Unsaved progress has been lost… Netflix isn’t a completionist when it comes to gaming. The streaming leader has shuttered “Team Blue,” its big-budget (aka AAA) gaming studio, less than two years after it was created and before it ever released a game. Netflix has launched 100+ games to subscribers since it first entered the button-mashing biz in 2021. The closure of Team Blue appears to be a retreat from “Grand Theft Auto”-sized ambitions and a refocus on its more casual mobile titles.

• VIPs log off: Team Blue was helmed by a stacked team including the creative lead of “Halo,” the art director of “God of War,” and the exec producer of “Overwatch.” All three have reportedly left Netflix.

• 2nd screen: Netflix’ll keep churning out simpler mobile titles tied to its own IP (like a narrative game based on “Love Is Blind”). Still, growth has slowed, and just 1% of daily users play Netflix games.

Gaming’s hard work… High-profile games haven’t been the most fruitful enterprise. Ballooning budgets (“Grand Theft Auto 6” will cost a rumored $2B) and a decline in US gamer spending has sent publishers on a cost-cutting spree. There’ve been an estimated 13K layoffs in the industry so far this year. That one-two punch has been surrounded by some eye-popping failures. Sony’s $400M shooter “Concord” reportedly made back just $1M before the company took it offline last month. “Assassin’s Creed” publisher Ubisoft recently delayed a major title and announced its “Star Wars” game hadn’t hit sales goals.