Netflix is moving to buy Finnish developer Next Games for a reported €65 million (roughly $91 million CAD).
This is the team behind Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales, one of the Netflix branded games that were released in 2021. The game is a catch-3 puzzle title similar to Candy Crush. However, it also features callouts to the Stranger Things TV series.
The deal has been approved by the gaming company’s board and just needs approval from the company’s shareholders. TechCrunch expects the purchase to finalize by the end of Q2 2022.
This is Netflix’s second game studio acquisition following Night School Studio in September 2021.
Next Games was founded in 2013 and specializes in mobile games based on TV shows. While the Stranger Things title has been key to its success, the studio has two previous titles based on The Walking Dead.
In the press release announcing the purchase, Netflix says that “Next Games, we will be able to build a portfolio of world class games — with no ads and no in-app purchases — that will delight our members around the world.” This is at least somewhat reassuring to read.
On iOS, Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales has a 3.8 rating, and on Android, it sits at 4.1.
What’s most interesting here is that it appears Netflix is still investing in gaming, suggesting that its initial push has payed off on som elevel.
Source: Netflix, TechCrunch, Night School
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