Netflix quietly developed a VR tie-in for its 'Eden' anime series

Netflix may be getting into video games sooner than expected. Without much fanfare, the company has been quietly working on a free Oculus Quest game called Eden Unearthed. Spotted by UploadVR, the game is available through the App Lab, which means it hasn’t gone through the full Oculus review process. The listing says the game was both developed and published by Netflix, but provides few other hints about its origins.

What we can say is that it was almost certainly envisioned as a tie-in for the Eden anime series the company released back in May. What’s interesting here is that there are two separate versions of the app with different release dates listed. The v0.7 release came out on April 20th, while the v0.8 was released in August. That fact, along with the App Lab listing, would appear to suggest Netflix is still working on the game.

At the moment, it’s hard to say whether Eden Unearthed represents the kind of video game release we can expect from Netflix moving forward. In July, the company hired former Oculus and EA executive Mike Verdu to help it build out a gaming team. At the time, Bloomberg reported the company’s plan was to offer games alongside its traditional video offerings within the next year.

Update 09/22 3:43 PM ET: A spokesperson for Netflix told Engadget Eden Unearthed is not part of the company's broader games initiative. Instead, it was something the company's marketing team created to promote the release of Eden.