Summary:
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Netflix acquires Ready Player Me, focusing on cross-game avatar tech for TV-based and party-style gaming.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Ready Player Me’s team will join Netflix to enhance gaming strategy.
Netflix aims to use Ready Player Me’s tech to let subscribers carry identities and fandom across different Netflix games.
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Acquisition aligns with Netflix’s shift towards communal gaming experiences and blurring lines between watching and playing.
Netflix is making another sharp turn in its gaming experiment and this time, it’s all about identity.
The streaming giant announced it has acquired Ready Player Me, an Estonia-based avatar creation startup whose tech lets players carry a single digital persona across multiple games and platforms. The move signals Netflix’s growing focus on TV-based and party-style gaming, rather than the mobile-first strategy it launched with four years ago.
Netflix x Ready Player Me !!
I’m excited to announce that @readyplayerme has been acquired by @netflix.
Our team will be joining Netflix to contribute to their gaming strategy with our cross-game avatar tech, enabling players to carry their identities and fandom across games.… pic.twitter.com/9bpQiYY34f
— Timmu Tõke (@timmutoke) December 19, 2025
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ready Player Me previously raised $72 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Endeavor, Konvoy Ventures, and Plural, with angel backing from founders tied to Roblox, Twitch, and King Games, according to TechCrunch.
Netflix confirmed that Ready Player Me’s roughly 20-person team will join the company, though only CTO Rainer Selvet is officially making the jump from the founding group. The startup will begin winding down its standalone services, including its PlayerZero avatar creation tool, on Jan. 31, 2026.
“Our vision has always been to enable avatars and identities to travel across many games and virtual worlds,” Ready Player Me CEO Timmu Tõke said in a statement. “I’m now very excited for the Ready Player Me team to join Netflix to scale our tech and expertise to a global audience.”
Netflix says it plans to use Ready Player Me’s development tools and infrastructure to let subscribers carry their personas and fandom across different Netflix games. Exactly which titles will support avatars, and when they’ll launch, remains unclear.
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When Netflix first entered gaming, it leaned heavily on mobile titles that subscribers accessed through their existing accounts. The strategy delivered mixed results. Big-name releases like GTA: San Andreas drew attention, but many smaller titles struggled to find an audience. Over time, Netflix quietly shut down or spun out several game studios it had acquired.
That reset accelerated after Alain Tascan, formerly of Epic Games, took over as Netflix’s president of games. Under his leadership, Netflix has shifted toward experiences designed for TVs, emphasizing party games, kids’ titles, and mainstream franchises that fit the lean-back living room vibe.
Recent releases include Netflix Puzzled, PAW Patrol Academy, WWE 2K25, and a slate of party games that use smartphones as controllers. The company has also announced a new FIFA title set to arrive ahead of the 2026 World Cup, further cementing its interest in shared, couch-friendly play.
At TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this fall, Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone said the company is experimenting with real-time interactivity, including live voting during programming. That same thinking appears to be driving its gaming strategy: blur the line between watching, playing, and participating.
