The Queen’s Gambit is finally an official Chess video game in collaboration with Netflix, in what’s believed to be the first time the streaming service has partnered with a game studio to create an officially licensed game. Rockwater Studio pitched the game to Netflix, and then adapted to the ambitious project attached to the streaming service, which is known for producing critically acclaimed, award-winning series like The Queen’s Gambit and The Last Call.
In an interview with Chess.com, Rockwater’s CEO and founder Leanne Loombe explains how her studio was chosen to develop The Queen’s Gambit game. “Netflix approached us and said, ‘Hey, we have this idea, this concept that we’re wanting to bring to life, and we think you’re the right developer for it,’” Loombe says. “They had seen some of the other chess games that we’d worked on in the past, and they knew that we had the experience in the genre to take on a project of this scale.”
The Queen’s Gambit is a chess-themed show on Netflix starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Heughan, and Rockwater had to make significant shifts in their usual premium offerings to design a game suitable for players of all skill levels. “We’ve always made our premium chess offerings with the aim of getting players to a certain level of play, and then they can continue to improve themselves,” Loombe says.
“For The Queen’s Gambit, we really had to step back and say, ‘We can’t do that. We can’t make a game where players get to a certain level and then just leave them. We need to make a game that teaches chess while taking players on a tour of all the familiar locations from the show, with all the famous faces from the show guiding them along the way.”
Even if you consider yourself an experienced chess player, you’ll learn something from the tutorials and move reviews, with visual aids and Beth Harmon (played by Clarke in the show) providing you with feedback on every move you make. Even if you consider yourself an experienced chess player, you’ll learn something from the tutorials and move reviews, with visual aids and Beth Harmon (played by Clarke in the show) providing you with feedback on every move you make.
“The design team worked closely with Netflix and were given a lot of creative freedom to re-create some of the key locations from the show,” Loombe says. “From the very start of the design process, we knew that we needed to make a game that chess players could play and enjoy, but also a game that a person who has never played chess in their life could pick up and play.”
The game feels very intuitive to play, and I personally felt like I was making smart moves without having to think too hard about it. Loombe says the move reviews will teach players high-level tactics to learn in later missions, while also giving the option to challenge AI opponents or play PvP.
After each match, the game will also analyze how well you match Beth Harmon’s playstyle, which will be a big deal for fans of the show who want to train with their favorite chess player. “Our game designers, our art team, and our QA team all worked very closely with the Netflix team to make sure that all the chess content was 100% accurate to the show,” Loombe says.
“We wanted to make sure that the locations and the chess sets were all completely authentic to the show, and we were able to get a lot of creative freedom to make sure the game was as fun as it could be.”
The Queen’s Gambit is set to be released later this year on Netflix and Steam, and will cater to players of all levels, from beginners to intermediate. If you’re a chess player who also enjoys the show, you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for this one.
