Third Game Studio Acquired by Netflix

Another indie game studio has been acquired by Netflix: Boss Fight Entertainment, a Texas-based mobile game company, has been bought by the streamer. The deal’s financial specifics were not disclosed. Former Zynga Dallas and Ensemble Studios employees launched Boss Fight in 2013. CEO David Rippy, CCO Bill Jackson, and COO Scott Winsett lead the company.

In announcing the deal, Netflix VP of game studios, Amir Rahimi, said, “This studio’s extensive expertise producing popular games across genres will help speed our ability to give members with amazing games wherever they want to play them.” Night School Studio, best known for its supernatural mystery adventure title “Oxenfree,” and Next Games, a mobile games developer based in Finland, whose titles include story-driven puzzle game “Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales” and two based on hit zombie series “The Walking Dead,” are among Netflix other game studio acquisitions.

Boss Fight will maintain its present studio locations in Allen, Texas (near Dallas), Austin, and Seattle. This will also allow to “tap into excellent creative talent outside of California,” according to Rahimi. Dungeon Boss (shown above), a mobile role-playing game in which players struggle “to be the Boss,” is the only game mentioned on Boss Fight’s website. Netflix has released 16 games in its app for iOS and Android so far, two of which are tied to “Stranger Things.”

The firm will release “Into the Dead 2: Unleashed” later this month, its first first-person shooter, which places players in the thick of a zombie apocalypse. Netflix believes that the games, which are available at no additional cost, will add value to its core streaming-video business and help it recruit and maintain users in a crowded industry.