Netflix sells game studio Spry Fox back to its founders

Exclusive: The streamer’s six-studio gaming operation is down to three, as Netflix pursues an altered video game strategy

Seattle-based game studio Spry Fox, founded back in 2010 and purchased by Netflix in 2022 is soon to be independent once more.

The studio has been developing an ambitious massively multiplayer online game called Spirit Crossing for Netflix, but is being spun off by the streaming company. Spry Fox’s founders will once again own the studio.

Spry Fox’s fate appears to be the result of similar forces that led to last year’s shutdown of Netflix’s Team Blue, a California based group composed of Halo, Call of Duty and God of War veterans who’d been brought together by Netflix to make a big-budget multi-platform game.

By mid-2024, Netflix’s game strategy was changing, and Team Blue found its work outside of the streamer’s gaming priorities.

So, too, it seems, has Spry Fox.

Spry Fox, however, isn’t shutting down as the Blue team did. Instead, it will revert to its pre-Netflix status, owned by co-founders David Edery and Daniel Cook.

Spirit Crossing will also remain in development. And Netflix is still set to publish the game on mobile, while Spry Fox will be free to shop the game to other platforms.

“We’re so grateful for our time at Netflix and our continued partnership publishing Spirit Crossing next year,” Edery said in a statement provided to Game File.

“Spirit Crossing was built to connect the world, bring people together and inspire kindness, so being able to bring the game to as many players, across different platforms, is truly the best thing for the game.”

Netflix did not provide a comment about its decision to split with Spry Fox.

The company has shrunk its internal game operations lately, but some new announcements (noted below) suggest more of a refocus than a retreat.