Netflix opens mobile game studio in Helsinki

Netflix opened a second mobile game studio in Helsinki, Finland, as the entertainment company pushes further into gaming.

Marko Lastikka, a gaming veteran, will serve as the studio director for the new Netflix Gaming studio, said Amir Rahimi, vice president of game studios at Netflix, in a statement.

It’s a sign that Netflix hasn’t lost its will to push into gaming despite cutbacks in other parts of the company, brought on by the global economic downturn. Game veteran Mike Verdu started the expansion in mid-2021 as part of a plan to offer more entertainment to Netflix’s subscribers.

“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 — with no ads and no in-app purchases — to our hundreds of millions of members around the world,” Rahimi said.

Rahimi said Netflix chose Helsinki, where it has already acquired the mobile game studio Next Games because it is home to some of the best game talent in the world. It’s the home of studios such as Supercell and Rovio.

“This will be a games studio that we build from scratch, and our second games studio in Helsinki alongside Next Games, which became part of Netflix earlier this year,” Rahimi said. “Along with Night School Studio and Boss Fight Entertainment, these four studios, each with different strengths and focus areas, will develop games that will suit the diverse tastes of our members.”

Rahimi said Netflix’s push into games is still in its early days.

“We have much more work to do to deliver a great games experience on Netflix,” he said. “Creating a game can take years, so I’m proud to see how we’re steadily building the foundation of our games studios in our first year and look forward to sharing what we produce in the coming years.”