Netflix is going all-in on video game development with the establishment of an internal studio in Helsinki, the streaming giant said Monday. It will make original games with no ads and no in-app purchases, Netflix said.
“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 … to our hundreds of millions of members around the world,” Amir Rahimi, vice president of Game Studios at Netflix, said in a press release.
Leading the studio is former Zynga executive Marko Lastikka. Zynga is primarily a mobile developer known for making games such as FarmVille, Words with Friends, CSR Racing and other casual titles.
This new internal game studio isn’t Netflix’s first. earlier this year, Netflix purchased Helsinki-based Next Games, maker of last year’s mobile title Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales. Netflix also purchased Texas-based Boss Fight Studio