Obsidian veteran Carrie Patel has announced her departure from the acclaimed RPG studio after roughly 12 years of service. Avowed‘s director has packed up her stuff and shuffled on over to Night School: A Netflix Games Studio.
This announcement was made on Patel’s personal LinkedIn profile, though what exactly she’ll be doing at her new home remains a mystery. Night School, for those unaware, is responsible for Oxenfree and Oxenfree 2, as well as Afterparty, Next Stop Nowhere and the Mr. Robot phone game.
Since 2019, Patel had been a game director at Obsidian, working in that capacity on Avowed and The Outer Worlds‘ Peril on Gorgon DLC. But before that, she spent a large chunk of her career working as a senior narrative designer at the studio, helping deliver The Outer Worlds itself and its other add-ons. One of The Outer Worlds’ best qualities is its writing and particularly humourous tone – a tradition Avowed carried on – so it’s safe to say she (alongside her team at Obsidian of course) is a killer talent.
Netflix as a games maker has itself had a shakier history. In October 2024 it shut down its Team Blue triple A gaming studio which left some big names looking for work – devs who had worked on franchises such as Halo, God of War, and more. Still, Night School has previously worked on less financially draining projects than big budget AAA games, so perhaps that developer will continue to weather the ongoing storm of industry layoffs. The Netflix folks, hell everyone, could use a break!
What Night School is working on remains a mystery as of right now, but the company did post on its own LinkedIn page two months ago that it was hiring, so the devs working there are surely cooking up something. When we’ll hear about it? Who knows. It only recently released Thronglets, a tie-in to the recent Black Mirror season, so one assumes we’ve got a fair bit of time to kill before another game from the studio gets publically revealed. Unless it suprises us all and drops something at SGF next month.
Are you a fan of Night School’s prior work? What do you reckon Patel will be working on there? Let us know below!
