Update:
Original post:
It was always a stupid idea when you have all the cable networks & SVOD services doing original programming.
Microsoft to Shutter Xbox Entertainment Studios
July 17, 2014, 10:15 AM PDT By Dawn Chmielewski
Microsoft will shut down the Xbox Entertainment Studios, ending an ambitious foray into original video programming.
The Santa Monica studio, with its estimated 200 employees, will be shuttered as Microsoft focuses on strengthening its core videogame business. The move is part of Microsoft’s company-wide restructuring announced on Thursday morning, which will see theelimination of up to 18,000 jobs in the next 12 months.
Chief Executive Satya Nadella signaled the change in a lengthy memo to Microsoft staff that expressed support for the Xbox and its importance to the company — but omitted any reference to original television programming.
“The single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world is gaming,” Nadella wrote a week ago. “We are fortunate to have Xbox in our family to go after this opportunity with unique and bold innovation. Microsoft will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox.”
Absent was any mention of Xbox Entertainment Studios, a division it created when it hired longtime CBS entertainment president Nancy Tellem in September 2012. Her mandate at the time was to make entertainment content that could only be found on the Xbox Live online platform.
Xbox Entertainment Studios fit with Microsoft’s plan to dominate the living room through its game console. But the unit has struggled to deliver on its promise.
Sources paint a picture of a disorganized studio that struggled to close deals and lacked a fully fleshed-out business model. This inability to execute has turned off potential studio partners, they say, complicating the process of securing premium content.
The studio became a casualty of shifting corporate priorities that came with Microsoft’s executive shuffle. Tellem had been hired by CEO Steve Ballmer, who less than a year later announced he would leave the company. Don Mattrick, who oversaw the Xbox division,similarly departed.
In recent months, Microsoft has focused its attention on bolstering sluggish sales of the Xbox One console, which has lagged behind the rival Sony PlayStation 4 game system. The company dropped the price to entice gamers and sales of the Xbox One doubled in June, as compared with the prior month.
Microsoft has moved away from positioning the Xbox One as an all-in-one entertainment system — a message that appeared to alienate gamers who are the most likely first buyers of a new game system. At this year’s E3 game industry trade show in Los Angeles, it was all about the games.
That raised questions about the fate of the Xbox Entertainment Studios, which merited nary a mention at the high-profile industry event. One of its first original shows, the soccer-themed reality show “Every Street United,” debuted June 15 to little notice.
Xbox Entertainment Studios will gradually wind down, with the studio continuing work on projects that are currently in production, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The high-profile “Halo” series, based on Microsoft’s popular game, is expected to continue.
http://recode.net/2014/07/17/microsoft-to-shut-down-xbox-entertainment-studios/
Original post:
Microsoft Reconsiders Original Programming Strategy for Xbox
JULY 17, 2014 | 07:53AM PT
Cynthia Littleton Editor-in-chief: TV
Microsoft is said to be reconsidering its strategy of developing original series for its Xbox platform.
The tech giant made headlines Thursday with plans to layoff as many as 18,000 employees following its recent $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s phones business. Industry sources say that newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella is taking a hard look at all of the company’s operations and is questioning the plan to produce a broad slate of original series for Xbox platforms.
Microsoft recruited former CBS exec Nancy Tellem (pictured) in the fall of 2012 to lead the Santa Monica-based Xbox Studios division, which was tasked with developing programming based in part on Microsoft vidgame properties such as “Halo.” Sources say Nadella is looking to focus the company’s resources and energies into its core software, Internet and vidgame businesses.
It’s unclear what the shift will mean for Tellem’s role at the company. “Halo,” the first major project spearheaded by the division, is far along in negotiations for a pickup at Showtime in a shared window with Xbox. That project, co-produced with Amblin TV, is expected to continue with Microsoft’s backing.
But the slate of development prospects laid out by Tellem at the NewFronts in May is expected to be significantly trimmed as part of the new mandate from Nadella, a 24-year company vet who was appointed CEO succeeding Steve Ballmer in February.
A rep for Xbox Studios declined to comment.
http://variety.com/2014/digital/new...nal-programming-strategy-for-xbox-1201263982/
It was always a stupid idea when you have all the cable networks & SVOD services doing original programming.
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