Xbox Entertainment Studios

Last updated
Xbox Entertainment Studios
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Entertainment
Founded2012;13 years ago (2012)
DefunctOctober 29, 2014;10 years ago (2014-10-29)
FateClosed
Headquarters,
Key people
Nancy Tellem (president)
Services
Parent Microsoft Studios
Footnotes /references
[1]

Xbox Entertainment Studios was a short-lived American television and movie studio based in Santa Monica, California created internally by Microsoft Studios in 2012, in order to create "interactive television content" for Xbox Live. [2]

Contents

On July 17, 2014, Microsoft confirmed that the studio would be closing. [3] On October 29, 2014, both the vice president and the president of the company departed, and the company was officially closed. [1]

History

At time of closure, Xbox Entertainment Studios was developing their first projects: a documentary about the video game crash of 1983, [4] a science-fiction drama titled Humans and a live action television series based on the Halo franchise in collaboration with film producer Steven Spielberg. [5] Future projects were to have included a remake of the BBC sci-fi series Blake's 7 , [6] a reboot of the Canadian children's hospital documentary series Little Miracles , and an autobiographical series about rapper Nas. [7] The studio also intended to co-produce certain live events for Xbox Live, including future editions of the Call of Duty Championship, the Miss Teen USA beauty pageant and the VGX. [8]

Before the closure was announced, the studio released a street soccer focused reality series titled Every Street United to coincide with the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Before closing, it released the video game documentary Atari: Game Over and the series spun off from Halo. [3]

In September 2014, The Hollywood Reporter reported that AMC was in talks to acquire the rights to revive Humans and that casting was underway. [9]

Several years after its closure, it was revealed that the studio were developing additional projects before closing, such as an adult animated series based on the Conker franchise. [10]

Original programming

Xbox Entertainment Studios developed original films and series in collaboration with a variety of studios:

Series

TitleGenrePremiereEpisodesLength
Every Street United Reality/Sports June 15, 20141 season, 8 episodes25-31 min.
Halo: Nightfall Drama November 11, 20141 season, 5 episodes23-29 min.

Films

TitleGenrePremiereLength
Atari: Game Over [11] Documentary November 20, 201466 min.

Specials

TitleGenrePremiereFormatLength
Bonnaroo 2014 Live Festival Experience [12] Live Music June 12, 2014Special (Live Event)72 hrs.
Miss Teen USA 2014 [13] Beauty pageant August 2, 2014Special (Live Event)120 min.

Cancelled Series

TitleGenreProducer(s)Director(s)PremiereEpisodesTime
3-2-1 Contact [ citation needed ]Educational Sesame Workshop TBATBATBA
A Walk in Your Shoes [ citation needed ]RealityBreakthrough EntertainmentTBATBATBA
Big Kids [ citation needed ]ComedyTBATBATBA
Blake's 7 Remake [14] Sci-fi-drama Georgeville TV Martin Campbell TBA 2014TBATBA
Conker's Big Break [15] Adult comedyTBATBATBA
Cro [15] EdutainmentSesame WorkshopTBATBATBA
The Electric Company [15] EducationalSesame WorkshopTBATBATBA
Untitled Halo live-action series [16] Live-Action Steven Spielberg TBATBA 2014TBATBA
Humans [17] Sci-Fi Kudos TBATBA 20158 Episodes60 min.
Little Miracles [ citation needed ]RealityBreakthrough EntertainmentTBATBATBA
Out There [ citation needed ] Teen drama Sesame WorkshopTBATBATBA
Sponk! [ citation needed ] Game show TBATBATBA
Square One [ citation needed ]EdutainmentSesame WorkshopTBATBA60 min.
Street Dreams [18] Biography TBATBATBA 2014TBA30 min.

References

  1. 1 2 Pitcher, Jenna (October 29, 2014). "Xbox Entertainment Studios Reportedly Shuttered as Heads Leave". IGN. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  2. Farber, Dan (2013-02-11). "Microsoft's Xbox Entertainment Studio working on interactive TV". CNET. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  3. 1 2 Dawn Chmielewski (17 July 2014). "Microsoft to Shutter Xbox Entertainment Studios (Updated)". Re/code.
  4. "Xbox Entertainment Studios to Debut Documentary Series Exclusively on Xbox in 2014". xbox.com. 19 December 2013.
  5. McWhertor, Michael (2013-05-22). "Halo TV series early in development, but Microsoft expects 'dramatic impact on how people think about TV'". Polygon. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  6. Sweney, Mark (2013-08-15). "Microsoft to fund Blake's 7 remake for Xbox Live service". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  7. Samit Sarkar (11 February 2014). "Report: Xbox Entertainment Studios making TV series based on Nas (update)". Polygon.
  8. "Xbox Execs Talk Momentum and the Future of TV". Microsoft. 2013-02-11. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  9. Goldberg, Lesley (12 September 2014). "AMC Lands Xbox Drama Series 'Humans'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  10. "Um desenho animado de Conker 's foi cancelado pela Microsoft em 2014, segundo ex-funcionário". 9 November 2022.
  11. "First Documentary Explores Fabled Atari Mystery". Xbox Wire. December 19, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  12. "Xbox and Bonnaroo join forces for a live festival experience". Xbox Wire. February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  13. "Miss Teen USA 2014 is Miss South Carolina K. Lee Graham [Recap]". August 4, 2014.
  14. "Microsoft to fund Blake's 7 remake for Xbox Live service". The Guardian. August 15, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  15. 1 2 3 "Um desenho animado de Conker 's foi cancelado pela Microsoft em 2014, segundo ex-funcionário". 9 November 2022.
  16. Watercutter, Angela (May 21, 2013). "Steven Spielberg Working on Live-Action Halo Series for Xbox". Wired. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  17. "Xbox Entertainment Studios and UK's Channel 4 Partner on Original Drama with Kudos". Xbox Wire. April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  18. "Xbox One is getting a biographical show about Nas, of course". Engadget. February 11, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.