Netflix buys Finland-based Next Games; mulls setting up a gaming studio

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In March of this year, Netflix announced that it was buying Finland-based mobile game developer Next Games for $72 million.

Founded in 2013, Next Games was the first publicly listed mobile game developer and publisher in Finland, and specialized in games based on entertainment franchises like movies, television series and books.

Now, the streaming giant has announced that it is committed to building a gaming division, and is in the process of setting up a first party studio in Finland.

It announced the appointment of Marko Lastikka as the studio director. Lastikka has worked with both Electronic Arts and Zynga, and brings years of experience working with mobile games to the table.

"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," said Amir Rahimi, VP of Game Studios, Netflix in a blog post.

Netflix emphasized that it wanted to make games, "with no ads and in-app purchases," and that along with its other acquisitions of Night School Studio and Boss Fight Entertainment, "will develop games that will suit the diverse tastes of our members."

The company said that it was still early days for the studio and, "creating a game can take years". It concluded by saying it will share more updates with users in the coming years.