We already knew Netflix was spending big to move into games, but a new salary transparency law in California gives us an idea of just how big.
It currently has 23 open roles at its Netflix Games Studio operation based in LA and Los Gatos, with further hiring going on at owned studios Night School, Boss Fight and Next Games.
To adhere to that salary transparency law, Netflix has to publish a wage range for the California-based positions, and we’re told that Netflix is paying at the upper end of that scale for the right candidate.
It could, for example, pay its new marketing director for external games a salary of up to $1m. The successful candidate requires at least 10 years’ experience in games publishing and marketing, ideally in “F2P live service mobile” games. The lowest possible salary for the position is still a tidy $240k.
Other open positions at Netflix Games Studio could pay up to $600k. They include live service manager, senior producer, a program management lead for cloud gaming, a release manager, QA test lead, live service analyst and senior game designer.
Positions that could pay up to $500k include a new executive producer for live ops, lead artist, lead engineer and several others.
It appears that the ‘triple-A PC game’ being helmed by Chacko Sonny at Netflix’s new LA studio is staffing up, too. The open game director, art director and technical director roles each pay up to $500k, and mention that the streaming giant is making a “3rd person action RPG”. It is also seeking candidates with experience working with Unreal Engine.
Elsewhere in the growing Netflix games empire, Oxenfree maker Night School Studios has three open roles all potentially worth up to $600k, and there are 11 open roles at Boss Fight Entertainment offering up to $500 or $600k.
Netflix’s jobs site also reveals a first glimpse of what former EA and Zynga exec Marko Lastikka is building in Helsinki. The studio is listed as Moonloot Games, and is accompanied by a logo and what appears to be an early render of an Animal Crossing-type game (both above). There are no open roles listed at the studio just yet, though.
“Established in September 2022, Moonloot Games is a Netflix game studio located in Helsinki, Finland,” says the blurb on Netflix’s jobs site. “We thrive to become a world-class games studio bringing a variety of delightful and deeply engaging original games to hundreds of millions of Netflix members around the world. As a part of Netflix, we strive to hire the best and value integrity, excellence, respect, inclusion, and collaboration.”
It’s been a whirlwind first year for Netflix as it entered the games business in earnest. Our recent look back the Netflix Games story so far has everything you need to know, if you need to catch up.
