Netflix's stabs at trying to do a prestige videogame haven't really worked out much for it, all told. Despite really revving up back in 2021, and starting its own gaming studio in 2022, it's also, uh, shut that gaming studio down, with nary a trio of As to its name despite promises and golden words.
Despite falling short, the Vice President of Netflix Games, Mike Verdu, was able to cling on, and was given a new role as VP for GenAI for Games. He then immediately got into a pair of AI-generated boots and took to LinkedIn to wax prophetic about his new position, which he occupied for a grand total of four months before vanishing into the night, GameFile reports. Netflix confirmed Verdu's departure to the site.
The choice of words, "every few months", is a little unfortunate. Given it has quite literally been a few months and now he's out the door—still, Verdu really seemed knee-deep in the sauce in those halcyon days of November, 2024. "Many view this technology with fear, but I am a game-maker at heart and I see its potential to unlock all of us, to create mind-blowing new experiences for players, to lift us to new heights. Yes, we'll have to adapt and change, but when have we failed to meet that challenge as an industry?"
When, indeed. Listen—I'm being very glib, here, so I do want to outright state that AI isn't exactly the devil. Deep learning programs have plenty of reasonable, boring uses in game development—there's also upscaling tech, which we're having an increasingly mixed relationship with, but on the whole do have the genuine potential to do some cool stuff.
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