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Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Entertainment |
Founded | 2012 |
Defunct | October 29, 2014[1] |
Fate | Closed |
Headquarters | Santa Monica, California, United States |
Key people | Nancy Tellem (president) |
Parent | Microsoft Studios |
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]
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]
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]
Xbox Entertainment Studios developed original films and series in collaboration with a variety of studios:
Title | Genre | Premiere | Episodes | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
Every Street United | Reality/Sports | June 15, 2014 | 1 season, 8 episodes | 25-31 min. |
Halo: Nightfall | Drama | November 11, 2014 | 1 season, 5 episodes | 23-29 min. |
Title | Genre | Premiere | Length |
---|---|---|---|
Atari: Game Over[11] | Documentary | November 20, 2014 | 66 min. |
Title | Genre | Premiere | Format | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bonnaroo 2014 Live Festival Experience[12] | Live Music | June 12, 2014 | Special (Live Event) | 72 hrs. |
Miss Teen USA 2014[13] | Beauty pageant | August 2, 2014 | Special (Live Event) | 120 min. |
Title | Genre | Producer(s) | Director(s) | Premiere | Episodes | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3-2-1 Contact[14] | Educational | Sesame Workshop | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
A Walk in Your Shoes[14] | Reality | Breakthrough Entertainment | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Big Kids[14] | Comedy | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||
Blake's 7 Remake[15] | Sci-fi-drama | Georgeville TV | Martin Campbell | TBA 2014 | TBA | TBA |
Conker's Big Break[14] | Adult comedy | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||
Cro[14] | Edutainment | Sesame Workshop | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
The Electric Company[14] | Educational | Sesame Workshop | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Untitled Halo live-action series[16] | Live-Action | Steven Spielberg | TBA | TBA 2014 | TBA | TBA |
Humans[17] | Sci-Fi | Kudos | TBA | TBA 2015 | 8 Episodes | 60 min. |
Little Miracles[14] | Reality | Breakthrough Entertainment | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Out There[14] | Teen drama | Sesame Workshop | TBA | TBA | TBA | |
Sponk![14] | Game show | TBA | TBA | TBA | ||
Square One[14] | Edutainment | Sesame Workshop | TBA | TBA | 60 min. | |
Street Dreams [18] | Biography | TBA | TBA | TBA 2014 | TBA | 30 min. |