Netflix Games confirms departure of former president and VP of GenAI Mike Verdu

Netflix Games’ VP of generative AI, Mike Verdu, has left the streaming giant.

Although Netflix confirmed Verdu’s departure in a statement to Game File, the company did not comment on why the VP left after just five months in the role, nor revealed who has replaced him.

Verdu joined Netflix in 2021 to launch its games division. In November 2024, however, after a management restructure, Verdu was moved into the role of VP of generative AI for games, with former Epic Games exec Alain Tascan brought in to lead Netflix’s gaming portfolio.

“Many view [AI] technology with fear, but I am a game-maker at heart and I see its potential to unlock all of us, to create mind-blowing new experiences for players, to lift us to new heights,” Verdu said at the time. “Yes, we’ll have to adapt and change, but when have we failed to meet that challenge as an industry?”

Netflix has been investing heavily in video games for the past few years, especially since first hiring Verdu in 2021. The entertainment streaming firm acquired multiple studios and opened two internal ones, although it announced in October it would be closing the California studio, and canceled six games as part of plans to “adjust [its] portfolio” in February, along with cutting an undisclosed number of staff from Netflix-owned Night School Studio.

Netflix’s video games are only available on mobile so far, with lifetime downloads of the 100-plus titles passing 210 million in September.

Annapurna Interactive appointed former Netflix Games exec Leanne Loombe as head of games in January.