Spry Fox just did something pretty unusual in today’s gaming industry. They bought themselves back from Netflix after three years of ownership. And honestly, it’s refreshing to see a studio make this kind of move for reasons that actually make sense instead of getting shut down or absorbed into oblivion.
The studio behind Triple Town and Alphabear joined Netflix back in 2022 when the streaming giant was making its big push into mobile gaming. At the time, it seemed like a solid match. Spry Fox had a track record of charming puzzle games, and Netflix wanted content for its mobile-first strategy. Plus, cofounder David Edery admits they “just never were that good at making money from our games.” Fair enough.
The Netflix Experiment That Hit a Wall
Here’s where things get interesting. Spry Fox has been working on Spirit Crossing, an MMO about building community and friendship in a cozy fantasy world. It’s their most ambitious project yet, and it’s meant to connect as many people as possible. But there’s a problem when your game is locked behind a Netflix membership wall.
“People want to be able to play with their friends,” Edery explains. “If their friends are not Netflix members, that’s kind of a problem.” It’s such a simple observation, but it cuts right to the heart of why this split needed to happen. You can’t build a social game when most potential players can’t access it.
The development journey for Spirit Crossing reads like a mini-history of indie game funding chaos. It started as a Google Stadia exclusive. When Stadia collapsed (remember that disaster?), Spry Fox kept the rights. Epic Games stepped in with publishing support and a bigger budget. Then Netflix acquired the whole studio.
When Independence Costs You Everything
Netflix’s gaming strategy has been all over the place. One minute they’re building AAA studios, the next they’re shuttering teams behind actual successful games like Squid Game: Unleashed. The company recently pivoted hard toward cloud-based TV games instead of mobile, which is basically a 180 from where they started.
To Edery’s credit, he says the team at Spry Fox wasn’t really affected by Netflix’s constant pivoting. They had a clear vision for Spirit Crossing and stuck to it. But eventually the math stopped working. Cozy games crush it on Nintendo Switch, and Spirit Crossing won’t be there if it stays Netflix-exclusive.
So they negotiated a split. Netflix will still get the mobile version as a free exclusive for subscribers, but the game is coming to PC and hopefully other platforms down the line. It’s a compromise that serves both sides, which is rare in the Business world of acquisitions and breakups.
The cost of this freedom is steep though. Both cofounders slashed their salaries to $20,000 a year. That’s brutal, but it’s the kind of sacrifice indie developers make when they believe in what they’re building. Most of Spirit Crossing was finished during the Netflix years, and they’re planning to launch this year.
The Problem They Still Need to Solve
The irony hanging over this whole story is pretty thick. Spry Fox left Netflix partly because they needed to reach more players, but now they have to figure out monetization. Remember, these are the same people who admitted they were never good at making money from games. That’s why they got acquired in the first place.
Edery says “we have to figure out how to make money now” with what sounds like genuine dread. It’s relatable for anyone who’s ever had to pivot from creative work to thinking about revenue models. But it’s also the reality of independence in the Technology and gaming space.
Spirit Crossing aims to “reduce loneliness in the world,” which is an admirable goal even if it sounds a bit grandiose. The game is essentially a multiplayer Cozy Grove experience, and if you’ve played that series, you know Spry Fox understands how to create warm, welcoming spaces. Whether they can pull it off at MMO scale while also staying financially viable is the real question.
This whole situation is a rare positive story in an industry that’s been absolutely brutal lately. Layoffs, closures, canceled projects. Watching a studio successfully negotiate independence instead of getting shuttered is almost shocking. But the hard part isn’t leaving Netflix, it’s what comes next when you have to pay your own bills and your track record on monetization is questionable at best.
