Netflix Shutters ‘Squid Game: Unleashed’ Game Studio Boss Fight Entertainment

The second major Netflix Games studio has been closed, it’s been confirmed overnight following mass layoffs. Boss Fight Entertainment, which Netflix acquired in March 2022, has been shut down. The studio was behind Netflix Stories and Squid Game: Unleashed. 

The studio’s first major project with Netflix was porting its previous game, Dungeon Boss: Respawned, to the Netflix games library, requiring significant rework to remove in-game microtransactions and to rework the story.

Netflix Stories would be the studio’s main project on Netflix for much of its time under the Netflix banner. The interactive story games, which are tied in with Netflix IP like Love is Blind, Virgin River, The Perfect Couple, Sex Education, Sweet Magdalena’s, Perfect Match, and Emily in Paris, put users in the heart of Netflix’s biggest series, allowing them to interact with well-known characters and create their own story path. Sadly, the game was announced to be closed, with all planned entries canceled in March of this year.

By far their most significant contribution has been Squid Game: Unleashed, which launched alongside season 2 of the show late last year and has amassed over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store alone. That game has built a dedicated community and has received regular content updates throughout 2025, including a major update alongside season 3’s launch this summer. The game also notably removed the Netflix paywall, allowing anyone to play for free regardless of whether they had a Netflix subscription.

What this means for the future of Squid Game: Unleashed is unclear.

Studio director David Rippy confirmed the closure on LinkedIn, writing:

“Hi everyone – well, word has gotten around quickly about Boss Fight’s closure. Thanks, everyone who reached out today. Rough news, for sure, but I’m very grateful for the time we had at Netflix. We worked with some awesome people and made many games that I’m very proud of, including Squid Game Unleased which hit #1 in 26 countries. You’ll see lots of Boss Fighters with similar posts. Please consider them if you have any open roles – they are outstanding people and true professionals through-and-through. As for Bill, Scott and me – we’re going to take a little breather before tackling whatever is next. Love to hear from you if there’s anything interesting going on, workwise or otherwise.”

David Luehmann, director of game development at Netflix, also confirmed the news, writing:

“After 10+ great years working at Boss Fight, the last few as part of Netflix, the time has come for the studio to close down. I am very proud of all the people, work, and games we’ve released. I wish you could see what we had cooking!

There are many talented people that have been impacted by this. If anyone is looking to grow, I’ll have many recommendations for you!”

Picture: Boss Fight Entertainment

This comes at a time of upheaval for Netflix games. Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen well over a dozen game licenses terminated and removed entirely from Netflix’s game library, another studio shuttered, and plenty of planned releases shuttered. The major push now seems to be toward creating TV game experiences, with that vision coming to fruition within the next few months, courtesy of the recently announced party games.