Picture: SpryFox / Netflix
Netflix has officially unveiled its new project from Spry Fox—a new MMO social sim game called Spirit Crossing. The unveiling was held today at GDC (also known as the Games Developer Conference), which is taking place throughout the week at Moscone Center in San Francisco.
The game comes from one of Netflix’s internal games teams—Spry Fox. The streamer acquired them back in October 2022 and is behind a few notable ones, including Alphabear and Road Not Taken, with their most recent Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit being exclusive to Netflix (prior titles are not on Netflix). Camp Spirit added Netflix Games on mobile in June 2024 and more recently joined the Cloud Gaming beta that allows you to stream games through your television.
We’ve been hearing about this project for quite some time, and it has been operating thus far under the codename Project Friendship. It has been tested for the past year or so in a pre-alpha state, with the last closed test in February.
https://twitter.com/spryfox/status/1843406533260181708
It’s a blend of Roblox, Minecraft, and games from ThatGameCompany, like Journey and Sky, all wrapped in a Studio Ghibli-inspired aesthetic. From what we’ve heard, those who have played it so far have really enjoyed the experience.
Netflix’s official synopsis reads for the game, “Prepare to adventure into a joyful world with Spirit Crossing, a massively cooperative life sim designed to encourage friendship and make the world feel a little less lonely. From award-winning cozy games studio Spry Fox, journey through an ever-changing landscape as you spread kindness throughout a vibrant, inviting community.”
The game involves building your own home and village, gathering resources, and participating in multiplayer activities with other people in a persistent world. A new minute-and-a-half trailer released today gives you some idea of the aesthetic and the general idea of the social MMO.
Picture: Netflix / SpryFox
As part of today’s announcement, Netflix has opened playtest applications to participate in a new Closed Alpha playtest. You can sign up for either Android or iOS access, by the looks of it, with or without a Netflix subscription. You will be signing a confidentiality agreement, however, so no sharing screenshots!
This is arguably Netflix’s most ambitious internal game studio release to date, following Squid Game: Unleashed last December, one of the games played the most on the service.
Are you looking forward to trying out Spirit Crossing? Let us know in the comments.
