{"id":240,"date":"2026-06-23T16:16:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:16:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:16:47","slug":"the-next-big-netflix-show-isnt-a-show-its-a-game-you-play-on-your-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240","title":{"rendered":"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a stormy night. You\u2019re in your apartment, looking nervously out the window at the trees bending in the wind, when you get a call from your best friend across the street. Her power is out \u2014 is yours still on? Suddenly, your living room goes dark. Get out of the building, she says. Meet her downstairs. That\u2019s when you realize you\u2019re not alone. Then everything starts going wrong.<\/p>\n

Read more At \u2018Cats: The Jellicle Ball,\u2019 the Best Seat Is the Judge\u2019s Chair<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThis could easily be the premise of a new Netflix horror show \u2014 an episode of Black Mirror<\/em>, say, or maybe something haunting from Ryan Murphy. But instead of simply watching where the show goes, you\u2019re now part of it. When your friend calls in the game, your smartphone actually rings in your hand. When the lights go out, you use that same personal device to turn on a flashlight and look around. And when the shadows dancing in the corners start to move, it\u2019s your actual skin you jump out of.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is Unhinged<\/em>, out June 30, a new narrative game that will show up automatically on your Netflix app (assuming your TV is modern enough to support it). Starring Sadie Sink and Zo\u00eb Kravitz, the interactive, immersive horror story isn\u2019t a video game in the sense that most people might be familiar with \u2014 there\u2019s no console to buy or controller to learn. Instead, your own smartphone becomes your entry into the world, navigating you through a creepy apartment building, fielding phone calls and text messages from friends and neighbors as you scramble to escape. \u201cWe\u2019re not coming for Resident Evil<\/em>,\u201d jokes Sean Krankel, founder of the game developer Night School Studios, which was acquired by Netflix in 2021, and head of narrative games for the streamer. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018I want to play a story,\u2019 as opposed to, \u2018I want to get extremely good at or play a game that has a lot of escalating difficulty.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tNetflix has been in the video game space for several years. What started as a handful of mobile games \u2014 interactive dives into Stranger Things<\/em>, a partnership with Red Dead Redemption<\/em>, a slew of kid-friendly tablet fare \u2014 soon grew into TV-based titles, party games, and quick first-person one-shots that could be played by scanning a QR code on your TV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tNight School had been known for making new kinds of experiences \u2014 particularly 2016\u2019s Oxenfree<\/em>, a paranormal game inspired by coming-of-age movies, which was available for PC, XBox, and PlayStation 4. When Netflix acquired Night School five years ago, they initially worked on a sequel to Oxenfree<\/em>, then Thronglets<\/em>, a mobile game that was also a plot point in an episode of Black Mirror.<\/em> Now, the streamer is becoming more ambitious. Unhinged<\/em>\u00a0is a standalone story, not connected to any existing Netflix IP. As Krankel explains, it\u2019s \u201clike the coming out party for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo create something wholly new, the narrative team looked back to other games with a low barrier to entry, particularly early 2000s Nintendo consoles that invited novices to join the fold. \u201cWe looked deeply at the Wii [and] the Nintendo DS,\u201d says Sam Warner, Night School\u2019s game director. \u201cI grew up with those, and I think that that focus on novel innovative play was something that we really started this game with.\u201d This was to be a video game for horror fans, rather than targeted at people who were already inclined to seek out digital games. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got Netflix and you have a phone, then this is for you,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Read more The Founders Warned Us About Someone Like Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe game is set in an apartment building that looks vaguely like New York, but really could be any city. When it begins, you are looking out at the living room from the point of view of the main character, Ava (Kravitz), seeing your cell phone in your hands. Players can make choices \u2014\u00a0answer the call from Claire (Sink), go out into the hallway, try and get in touch with your superintendent to figure out what\u2019s going on\u00a0\u2014 and depending on those decisions, the game will play out differently. Movement is controlled by an intuitive interface on your phone, which also allows you to call or send texts to characters in the game. Make a wrong move, and things will get bad fast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first seed of Unhinged<\/em> came from a technological breakthrough Night School made about two years ago, namely, being able to point your personal smartphone at your TV for it to act as a flashlight to navigate through a digital world. \u201cInstead of trying to make classic game controls, with a joystick and buttons, work on [a smartphone screen] \u2014 which doesn\u2019t usually work that well \u2014 we were like, let\u2019s design a totally bespoke thing that makes it feel magical and awesome on your phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThey next discovered how to have the audio bounce back and forth between the TV and the phone \u2014 when you get a call in the game, for example, the audio comes from the phone, while you\u2019re still hearing ambient noise coming out of your TV. \u201cIt was about two or three months of developing a story in tandem with that back and forth, and so the mechanics inspired the story more than the other way around,\u201d says Krankel. They knew going in that the game would be horror, but it wasn\u2019t until the flashlight mechanic came together that they figured out the setting. \u201cOur other aha<\/em> moment was like, if people were playing this at home, it would feel really terrible and scary to have it be about home invasion,\u201d Krankel explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe game only takes 20 to 50 minutes to play, though there\u2019s a lot happening in that timeframe. \u201cIt\u2019s a short experience, but it has a lot of opportunities to fail,\u201d Krankel says. They had initially built in a slew of other features \u2014 conversations to navigate, a full slate of apps to play within the phone \u2014 but during production they pulled it back to something more manageable. \u201cIt\u2019s intentionally bite-sized, like a show,\u201d says Krankel. \u201cSo you can play it one night and be like, \u2018What the hell, that was crazy, let\u2019s play it again.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe hope, then, is to convince people who don\u2019t usually play video games to give this one a shot. In developing the game, \u201cWe talked a lot about both escape rooms and Disneyland rides,\u201d explains Krankel. \u201cTo go into an escape room, or to go get on the Indiana Jones<\/em> ride or something, you don\u2019t have an expectation of skill, you don\u2019t have an expectation of, \u2018Oh, shoot, I\u2019m going to look like a fool if I\u2019m not good at this.\u2019 We want the narrative games to feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more World Cup Run Inspires Haiti Amid Gang Violence: \u2018We Are a People of Hope\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Unhinged,’ the newest narrative game from Netflix, lets people play through a horror movie, with very creepy results .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV - Business Moving Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV - Business Moving Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"'Unhinged,' the newest narrative game from Netflix, lets people play through a horror movie, with very creepy results .\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Business Moving Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T16:16:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fea0d2fc6c4997d7397c8e2f526719f0\"},\"headline\":\"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T16:16:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240\"},\"wordCount\":1184,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240\",\"name\":\"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV - Business Moving Services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T16:16:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fea0d2fc6c4997d7397c8e2f526719f0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?p=240#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Business Moving Services\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fea0d2fc6c4997d7397c8e2f526719f0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessmovingservicess.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV - Business Moving Services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV - Business Moving Services","og_description":"'Unhinged,' the newest narrative game from Netflix, lets people play through a horror movie, with very creepy results .","og_url":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240","og_site_name":"Business Moving Services","article_published_time":"2026-06-23T16:16:47+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fea0d2fc6c4997d7397c8e2f526719f0"},"headline":"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV","datePublished":"2026-06-23T16:16:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240"},"wordCount":1184,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240","url":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240","name":"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV - Business Moving Services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-23T16:16:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fea0d2fc6c4997d7397c8e2f526719f0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a07a2026886c7b4ecfc07145994868df.webp","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=240#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Big Netflix Show Isn\u2019t a Show \u2014 It\u2019s a Game You Play On Your TV"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/","name":"Business Moving Services","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fea0d2fc6c4997d7397c8e2f526719f0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com"],"url":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}