Avowed director Carrie Patel leaves Obsidian after 12 years to join the Netflix studio behind Oxenfree

After nearly 12 years at Obsidian Entertainment, Avowed game director Carrie Patel has left the studio to take on a similar position at Night School, the Netflix-owned developer of the Oxenfree games.

Patel announced her departure and new role in a very brief message posted on LinkedIn (via Insider Gaming): “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Game Director at Night School: A Netflix Game Studio!”

Night School was founded in 2014 and came to prominence with its acclaimed debut release, the 2016 supernatural adventure Oxenfree. Netflix acquired Night School in 2021, and it was a pretty big deal at the time: Night School was Netflix’s first studio acquisition, and it seemed set on becoming a player in the games industry—at least in the mid-tier, indie-darling scene.

It hasn’t really worked out that way, though. In more recent years Netflix appears to have dialed back its gaming ambitions: A new studio aimed at building “the next big thing in gaming” was closed in October 2024; a month later Netflix’s vice president of games Mike Verdu transformed into Netflix’s vice president of generative AI in games, and then four months after that he transformed again into a guy who doesn’t work there anymore.

There were also layoffs in February 2025 at Night School specifically, although a Netflix rep said at the time that only a small number of employees had been let go and that its broader strategy with the studio, whatever it is, remained unchanged.

As for Patel, she’s had a long and seemingly enviable career at Obsidian: Prior to serving as director and narrative designer on the very well-received Avowed, she worked as narrative designer on Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds, and narrative design lead (along with Obsidian stalwart Josh Sawyer) on Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire.

Given all that, it might seem a bit odd that Patel would want to make the move from one to the other, and for now we’re left to speculate: Netflix has the resources to put a lot of money on the table to attract big-name talent, sure, but it’s just as likely that Patel simply wants to get creative with a smaller team. Patel herself hasn’t said any more about her reasons for making the move or what she’ll be getting up to at Night School, and Netflix confirmed that Patel has joined Night School as a game director but declined to comment further.