Former Netflix executive Leanne Loombe is joining Annapurna Interactive as executive vice president and head of games, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Loombe helped build out Netflix’s game development and publishing arm, and now she’ll likely face new challenges as a leader of the gutted games publisher.
Annapurna Interactive, which is behind popular indie titles like Stray, Outer Wilds, and Gorogoa, experienced an upheaval last year when the entirety of its staff resigned after its owner, Megan Ellison, disagreed with the employees’ wishes to spin the publisher off into a new company, Bloomberg reported at the time. The former Annapurna Interactive staff members later took control of the games published under Private Division, an indie label previously owned by Take-Two Interactive, according to Bloomberg.
Loombe worked at Riot Games before joining Netflix in 2021, where she brought titles like Hades and the Grand Theft Auto trilogy into the streamer’s growing gaming portfolio and helped head up its cloud gaming initiative. As part of its earnings report released on Tuesday, Netflix said it would “continue to test and expand” its cloud gaming offering on TV, as well as focus on adding “immersive, narrative games based on our IP, socially engaging party games, games for kids and mainstream established titles” to its lineup.
“I’ve always admired how incredibly thoughtful Annapurna Interactive is about supporting developers who have a strong creative vision and empowering them to create high quality games that players love,” Loombe said in a post on LinkedIn. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to continue creating and strengthening a place developers can call home.”