Netflix’s gaming ambitions may have scaled back, but they apparently haven’t been shuttered completely. The company has revealed a new narrative-driven horror adventure game, Unhinged. Billed as an “immersive gaming experience,” Unhinged stars Zoë Kravitz and Sadie Sink as two friends, Ava and Claire, who must work together, communicating via cell phone, to survive a killer stalking the halls of a desolate apartment building.
Unhinged turns your phone into a controller and makes it part of the action. In addition to letting you control Ava’s movements, it also acts as your bridge to Claire who lives across the street. When Ava receives a call or message, your phone rings or vibrates and plays audio through the handset speaker. (Troy Baker rounds out the cast as a character named Ben, who it seems you can also connect with via phone.)
The game was developed by Oxenfree studio Night School Games, one of Netflix’s last remaining gaming subsidiaries. In 2021, Netflix acquired Night School Games as part of its larger goal to place games alongside its streaming movie and TV offerings. Over the next three years, it spun up or acquired multiple studios while also becoming the exclusive mobile platform for numerous indie and AAA games including Sonic Mania, Hades, and most notably the Grand Theft Auto series. However, it eventually became apparent that gaming wasn’t paying off in a way Netflix hoped. In 2024, Netflix shut down one of its studios before it ever launched a game. The Southern California–based studio was staffed by former Halo and Overwatch developers and had been working on a traditional AAA release at the time it was closed down. The next year, Netflix also shut down Boss Fight Entertainment, sold Cozy Grove developer Spry Fox back to its founders, and removed a ton of its best games from the service.
Since then, Netflix has taken a decidedly more casual approach to gaming, refocusing its efforts on party games and tie-ins to Netflix properties. The arrival of Unhinged might signal a return to the kinds of interactive experiences the company began with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, or it could be the last gasp of a storied developer before Netflix sells it off or shuts it down. Unhinged launches on Netflix June 30th.
