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[Brad Grenz]

Are Sony really moving into original programming though? How many original shows do they have in production?

I can only think of Powers.

Sony has been in original television programming for decades. All that's happening is they are leveraging that experience and talent to experiment with PlayStation as a new outlet. It's effectively zero risk since they have so many outlets to monetize Powers if the math doesn't work out. They can put it on Crackle, sell DVDs/Blu-rays, sell broadcast rights around the world, sell streaming rights to Netflix, Amazon, etc.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Man oh man, Xbox One is like an entirely different planet from where it started as.

That's what you do when nothing can survive on your planet, start terraforming.

 

[KissVibes]

Really?

So now you're going to stop paying for xbox live?

I don't have Xbox Live.

The original series' that Microsoft announced were another reason for me to get an Xbox One, and I suppose sign up for Xbox Live GOLD if required to view them. This announcement that MS is giving up on that before it began, means that I have one less reason to own an Xbox One and if I do still get one, it's looking like I'll be waiting until that sub-$250 price.

 

[Chittagong]

It's pretty crazy (and I guess sorta reassuring) how totally their entire E3 2013 proposition has been wiped from the face of earth. Shutting the entire 1st party TV effort is the biggest change of them, in my view. But it is incredible to also hear how directly the finger is pointed at the bundled Kinect too.

 

[d00d3n]

I think Microsoft may have problems communicating about this shutdown in some parts of the world. The leading Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet has news on the shutdown on their main page (admittedly, some scrolling is needed to get to it, but it may have been higher a couple of hours ago):

The headline reads "Shocking news: xbox is shut down". I am unsure if it is a desperate attempt to get clicks or if it is a summer temp in the editing department fucking up. The actual story is linked from a tech blog type site ("prisjakt pryl") owned by the same company as the tabloid. The text is quite incomprehensible, but it does not repeat the clearly erroneous headline.

 

[Doffen]

I think Microsoft may have problems communicating about this shutdown in some parts of the world. *snip*

That's what you get for delaying your console.

 

[d00d3n]

That's what you get for delaying your console.

In a sense that is correct because the error would probably have been corrected if people in Sweden (people buying games or for that matter journalists) cared at all about xbox.

 

[onQ123]

Xbox Shops Entertainment Studio to Warner Bros.

Microsoft's TV production arm might not be gone for good

Microsoft may have decided to shutter its nascent Xbox Entertainment Studios but it’s not necessarily game over for the Santa Monica studio.


Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that XES is shopping for a new home and has had preliminary talks with Warner Bros. about possibly becoming a stand-alone entity based at the studio. In that scenario, Warners would look to merge XES with Machinima, the video game-centric YouTube network in which it owns a stake.

A Warner Bros. spokeswoman said that the studio is “constantly having preliminary discussions regarding business opportunities with numerous companies at any given time. A conversation is just that — a conversation.”

Reps for XES and Machinima declined comment.

Sources caution that the talks are still preliminary and an agreement with Warners is unlikely, but a deal with any buyer would breathe new life into XES following Xbox head Phil Spencer’s July announcement that Microsoft will shut down the studio amid company-wide layoffs of up to 18,000 people. The closure is part of new CEO Satya Nadella’s effort to refocus the Redmond, Wash., tech giant on its core businesses, including video gaming.

At the time, Spencer said that studio chief Nancy Tellem would remain at the company with exec vp Jordan Levin and some other members of the XES team to shepherd existing projects — including the Steven Spielberg-produced Halo series, documentary franchise Signal to Noise and digital series Halo: Nightfall, which is set to be released in November.

XES was founded in 2012 under former CEO Steve Ballmer. He hired CBS veteran Tellem to build out teams in Santa Monica and Vancouver to create buzzy, interactive projects that would appeal to the Xbox demographic. But the studio was slow to launch. Despite a robust slate of development projects, it had debuted just two shows — soccer reality series Every Street United and a Bonnaroo live stream — by the time Spencer announced its closure. Meanwhile, the studio has faced competition from new entrants including Sony’s PlayStation Network, which will premiere the drama Powers this winter.

Given that XES still has several projects in the pipeline and a team of experienced development executives, it makes sense that the studio would look for a strategic partner.

A deal would also give Warner Bros. a robust pipeline of digital projects and comes as traditional Hollywood studios have shown increased interest in digital content creators. Disney acquired YouTube network Maker Studios in March for $500 million plus incentives, and DreamWorks Animation bought tween-focused AwesomenessTV in 2013.

Warner Bros. has previously shown interest in online content, leading an $18 million investment in Machinima in March. The digital media firm, which had more than 15 million unique visitors in June according to comScore, would be a natural companion for XES given that they have similar core demographics: primarily video game-playing young men.

Machinima, which operates the top entertainment app on the Xbox One platform, has also worked with Xbox before to distribute the live-action digital series Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Although Machinima already produces original content, XES would provide it with the infrastructure for big-budget projects.

Of course, it wouldn’t pay off to produce expensive content with an eye for only digital distribution, but it’s likely that any traditional studio willing to make a deal with XES would look for alternatives similar to the one XES is currently negotiating to bring Halo to Showtime.

 

[Guevara]

These cuts took place today, as part of the wave of 3,000 layoffs across Microsoft

Nancy Tellem, Jordan Levin Leave Xbox Studios Amid Mass Microsoft Layoffs

Xbox Entertainment Studios is officially no more.

The last staffers of the production entity headed by Nancy Tellem were let go Wednesday as part of the broader layoffs of 3,000 people at the software giant.

Tellem and her top lieutenant Jordan Levin had been trying to salvage some of the projects that they’d been developing under the Xbox Studios banner by bringing them to a new studio. But the pair had initially expected to stay through year’s end at Microsoft, which would have given them more time to sort through the thicket of rights issues involved in relocating the scripted and nonscripted projects.

Now, rights in some cases are reverting back to the creators, and Tellem and Levin are officially free agents.

Xbox Studios became a casualty of the dramatic shift in strategy at Microsoft after Satya Nadella took over the CEO reins from company stalwart Steve Ballmer.

The Ballmer regime had backed a strategy of developing original programming for Xbox in an effort to make Microsoft’s videogame platform more of an entertainment-focused hub. But Nadella has said the company needs to hone its focus on its core software business, which meant layoffs and pulling back on other initiatives such as Xbox Studios.

http://variety.com/2014/digital/new...udios-amid-mass-microsoft-layoffs-1201342584/