Picture: Netflix
One of the biggest games in Netflix’s library, developed by its own roster of development teams, is soon set to depart Netflix in full. Having been ported to Netflix Games in 2023, Dungeon Boss: Respawned will be removed from Netflix’s offerings soon.
Developed by Boss Fight Entertainment and published by Big Fish Games in 2015, the game combined strategic team-building and RPG elements with charming, cubic graphics and approachable gameplay. Players collected and upgraded heroes to form squads of four to battle through levels and online modes. In its early years, the game thrived with frequent updates, new heroes, community engagement, and even fan podcasts celebrating its quirky appeal.
The golden era between 2015 and 2017 saw Dungeon Boss at its peak, according to most players, including from an excellent retrospective video by Jason Shows Nostalgia. By the late 2010s, the game had evolved significantly, with new heroes and mechanics added. However, according to that YouTube video, pay-to-win systems overtook the game’s balance, locking the best heroes and weapons behind steep paywalls and alienating free players.
In 2022, Netflix acquired the rights to Dungeon Boss as part of its growing mobile games initiative, relaunching it in 2023 as Dungeon Boss: Respawn. The remastered version promised improved visuals and a no-microtransaction model, but it came with a catch: players needed a Netflix account to play. The original game was discontinued and removed from the various app stores. The game came with cloud saves, multiplayer, and support for various languages. It boasted over 100K downloads on Android alone.
After two years, however, the game is now being closed down entirely, with removal notices in the Netflix app and on the game’s store pages, noting that it is departing the service soon. A “Last day to play” notice states you have until December 8th, with the games’ full removal planned for both Android and iOS on December 9th.
The news of the game’s departure comes just a couple of weeks after word got out that Boss Fight Entertainment, one of Netflix’s internal game studios, was closing permanently.
Removal notice on Dungeon Boss: Respawned
The studio’s other games, Netflix Stories, and Squid Game: Unleashed remain online for the foreseeable future, with the latter still receiving frequent updates even after the studio’s closure announcement.
This is one of four scheduled departures from the Netflix Games library throughout December, with others being Scriptic: Crime Stories and Reigns: Three Kingdoms, plus the rescheduled departure of Civilization VI. With these removals, that likely takes Netflix’s total game count to just under 100 titles, though many are still in development, both for mobile and connected devices.
Are you disappointed that Dungeon Boss: Respawned is leaving Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
