Microsoft’s Xbox division is once again turning its attention toward Hollywood, and this time the effort feels far more coordinated than the scattered attempts of the past. According to interviews with Entertainment Weekly, Microsoft executives say the company is now developing dozens of film and TV projects based on its gaming properties. The momentum comes on the heels of two major wins. A Minecraft Movie delivered a strong box office run, and Amazon’s Fallout series became one of the platform’s biggest hits. Those successes have clearly encouraged Xbox leadership to think bigger about what its franchises can become.
This renewed push has roots in an earlier chapter of Xbox history. Back in 2013, Microsoft launched Xbox Entertainment Studios, an ambitious but short-lived effort to produce original programming for Xbox Live. The studio released the Atari: Game Over documentary and Halo: Nightfall before shutting down in 2014. The closure aligned with Phil Spencer’s early leadership and a broader need to refocus on games after the troubled Xbox One launch. The message then was straightforward. Strengthen the gaming platform first.
A decade later, the tone from leadership has shifted. In his interview with Entertainment Weekly, Xbox content chief Matt Booty said, “We’ve got over 20 franchises that have made a billion dollars, lifetime,” adding that Xbox sees itself as “the stewards of that IP.” That framing captures how Xbox now views its catalog. These franchises aren’t just games. They are cultural engines that can thrive across multiple mediums. Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Xbox, echoed that sentiment in her own EW interview. “Great games are culture, and culture is entertainment,” she said. She pointed to the recent wave of adaptations as proof, noting that Fallout became “the number two show of all time on Amazon” and that Minecraft landed in the top five films of 2025. She also highlighted the scale of Xbox’s biggest franchise, saying Call of Duty is “bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” With that kind of demand, it’s no surprise that Xbox now has projects in development across Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount.
As the conversation shifts from strategy to execution, the slate of adaptations already underway shows just how aggressively Xbox is moving. EW’s reporting outlines a surprisingly robust list of projects in active development. Gears of War is moving forward at Netflix with both a live action film and an animated series. Call of Duty is progressing at Paramount with a planned 2028 release window. Rare’s Sea of Thieves is being shaped into a live action film that is still searching for a director. Netflix is also developing a new animated Minecraft series following the success of the theatrical film. Amazon is working on a live action Wolfenstein series, and even Fallout Shelter is being turned into a reality competition show. Xbox is also exploring a new Halo project after the cancellation of the Paramount series, with Booty telling EW that the franchise remains central to the brand’s identity.
The ambition doesn’t stop with the projects already announced. Several teams within Xbox are openly discussing what they want to tackle next. King’s Todd Green told EW that a Candy Crush animated film would be “super fun,” pointing to the franchise’s colorful cast and broad appeal. Booty also hinted that more than a dozen unannounced adaptations are in various stages of development, suggesting that the current slate is only the beginning of a much larger entertainment strategy.
What makes this moment even more intriguing is how Microsoft is benefiting from adaptations that weren’t originally Xbox born. Minecraft came through the Mojang acquisition, and Fallout arrived with Bethesda. Yet both now sit firmly inside the Xbox portfolio, and their cultural wins reflect back on the brand. The Minecraft movie’s success reinforces the idea that Xbox owns globally recognizable properties that can succeed far beyond consoles. Meanwhile, the Fallout series triggered a massive surge in game engagement across every platform, including Xbox and Game Pass. These results show that Microsoft can turn acquired IP into cultural events, and those events can feed the gaming ecosystem even if the original titles weren’t first party exclusives. That feedback loop is exactly what Xbox hopes to replicate with its own internally developed franchises.
Even with that momentum, the timing has some longtime fans uneasy. Xbox is in the middle of a major structural shift that has reshaped leadership, reorganized studios, and forced the company to confront years of inconsistent first party output. The division is working to rebuild trust, stabilize its hardware strategy, and deliver a more reliable release cadence. Against that backdrop, a large Hollywood push can feel like a split focus, especially to players who want to see the gaming side fully repaired before the company expands into new territory.
That skepticism is understandable. When a platform is trying to regain momentum, any move that looks like a diversion can trigger anxiety. At the same time, cross media storytelling can strengthen franchises, attract new audiences, and create a feedback loop that ultimately benefits the games themselves. The success of The Last of Us and Arcane shows how powerful that loop can be when executed with care. The real question is whether Xbox can pursue these adaptations while still delivering the consistent, high-quality games that define a healthy platform.
Right now, Xbox is standing at a crossroads. The division is trying to rebuild its gaming identity while expanding its entertainment footprint. If both efforts land, Xbox could emerge stronger, more culturally relevant, and better positioned for the next decade. If they don’t, fans may look back on this moment as the time Xbox tried to grow outward before fully repairing the foundation that made its worlds worth adapting in the first place.
