Netflix acquires metaverse identity platform; project with over $70 million in funding will cease operations

【CryptoWorld】Netflix officially announces the acquisition of the metaverse identity platform Ready Player Me. The specific amount and terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, but the platform confirmed that services will officially shut down on January 31, 2026, with the entire team joining Netflix.

Ready Player Me performed impressively during its funding stage, raising a total of approximately $72 million. The backers are also quite strong—supported by top-tier institutions like a16z and many industry experts. Co-founders of Roblox David Baszucki, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, and GitHub co-founder Tom Preston-Werner have all invested in this project. This indicates that Ready Player Me has indeed gained recognition from many industry insiders in the field of metaverse identity authentication.

From its funding peak to being acquired by a major company and ultimately shutting down, this trajectory reflects the current reality of the metaverse market—ambitions are high, but independent survival is still very challenging. Netflix’s move shows that large content ecosystems still have a demand for metaverse identity management capabilities, but this demand is better suited for integration into their own systems rather than relying on third parties.