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Netflix VP of external games Leanne Loombe is leaving the streaming firm.
The executive joined the company in 2021 as it began building its games division. She was responsible for heading up the firm’s second and third-party development and publishing operations, overseeing and sourcing its portfolio of games.
PocketGamer.biz has reached out to Netflix for comment on the matter.
Executive shakeup
Loombe’s departure comes as Netflix restructures its games division under new president Alain Tascan. The former Epic Games EVP of development joined the company in July, replacing the firm’s previous VP of games Mike Verdu. The latter executive now has a new role as VP of GenAI.
Netflix’s shakeup resulted in the closure of its internal studio Team Blue, which was reportedly working on a triple-A multi-platform game.
Key staff members at the studio such as Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny, Halo creative lead Joesph Staten and God of War art director Rafael Grassetti also left the company.
Recently, Netflix removed GTA 3 and Vice City from its games library one year after bringing the GTA Trilogy remastered to its subscription service. The titles were two of the company’s most downloaded games, with only San Andreas from the trilogy currently still available to install.
Recalibrating investment
In an investor call last year, Netflix co-CEO Gregory Peters said that engagement and the impact of games on its overall business at the current scale was “still quite small”.
“It’s also probably worth noting that the investment level in games relative to our overall content spend is also quite small,” he said. “And we’ve calibrated the growth in investment with the growth in the business impact. So we’re being disciplined about how we scale that.
“So now obviously, the job is to continue to grow that engagement to the place where it has a material impact on the business.”
Peters also claimed the company had tripled engagement with its games, but did not provide data on actual figures.
In an interview with PocketGamer.biz last year, Loombe said games remained a “long-term bet” for Netflix.