What’s the story?
Netflix has acquired Ready Player Me to build cross-game avatars for its gaming platform, with approximately 20 staff joining the streaming service.
Why it matters
The acquisition signals Netflix’s continued gaming push and could see the integration of cross-game avatar technology into its platform for the first time.
The bigger picture
Netflix continues shifting its gaming strategy toward TV-based experiences and interactive features, with avatars potentially becoming part of subscribers’ Netflix identity.
December 22, 2025 — Streaming giant Netflix has acquired Ready Player Me, a provider of cross-game avatar technology based in Estonia. Netflix stated that it plans to develop avatar systems for its subscribers using Ready Player Me’s technology, allowing them to carry their personas across different games on the Netflix platform.
According to TechCrunch, which first reported on the announcement, approximately 20 staff members from Ready Player Me will join Netflix. Of the four founders, Rainer Selvet, Haver Järveoja, Kaspar Tiri, and Timmu Tõke, only CTO Rainer Selvet will join the streaming service.
Ready Player Me was founded 12 years ago and launched its Ready Player Me platform more than five years ago, according to CEO Timmu Tõke. In that time, the company raised USD $72 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Plural, Konvoy Ventures, and angel backers.
“Our vision has always been to enable avatars and identities to travel across many games and virtual worlds,” said Tõke. “I’m now very excited for the Ready Player Me team to join Netflix to scale our tech and expertise to a global audience and contribute to the exciting vision Netflix has for gaming.”
Netflix first launched its gaming division four years ago with mobile titles and has since expanded to TV-based gaming experiences. The streaming service has shifted its gaming direction over the years after experimenting with multiple studio acquisitions and mobile titles. Recent additions to its catalog include party games for TVs and mobile, WWE 2K25, and Red Dead Redemption. The company also recently announced a new FIFA game set to release ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Ready Player Me will cease operations on January 31, 2026, TechCrunch reported. This includes the company’s PlayerZero online avatar creation tool. Netflix has not yet provided a timeline for when avatar functionality will become available or which titles will feature the technology first. Terms of the deal were also not disclosed.
To find out more about Ready Player Me and Netflix, visit their websites.
Image credit: Ready Player Me / Netflix
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix, where he has spent years immersed in the XR ecosystem, tracking its evolution from early prototypes to the technologies shaping the future of human experience. While primarily covering the latest AR and VR news, his interests extend to the wider world of human augmentation, from AI and robotics to haptics, wearables, and brain–computer interfaces.