After ‘Halo’, ‘Fallout’, And ‘Minecraft’, Microsoft Gaming CEO Says “You’re Going To See More” Live-Action Xbox Adaptations
In a move that will hopefully produce more Fallouts than Halos, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that after A Minecraft Movie, the Microsoft gaming imprint will be bringing even more of their IPs to live-action.
Spencer, who presently oversees the larger Xbox team as part of his current role as Microsoft Gaming CEO, provided this update on the brand’s Hollywood plans while speaking to Variety‘s Jennifer Maas and Katcy Stephan as part of The Minecraft Movie press tour.
Acknowledging the potential for their narrative take on the nonlinear sandbox game to end up being a complete miss with audiences, the Microsoft exec said that even if that happened to be the film’s ultimate fate, it would not deter the company from green lighting more live-action adaptations, but rather be seen as a learning opportunity as to ‘what not to do’ in the future.
“We’re learning and growing through this process, which is giving us more confidence that we should do more,” explained Spencer. “We learned from doing Halo. We learned from doing Fallout. So all of these build on themselves. And obviously we’ll have a couple that miss. But what I’d say to the Xbox community that likes this work is, ‘You’re going to see more, because we’re gaining confidence and we’re learning through this.'”
Unsurprisingly, Spencer did not provide any specific details as to which Xbox IPs are up for live-action consideration post-Minecraft.
And while many may be quick to ask themselves ‘What does Microsoft even have outside of Halo?’, a quick glance at their actual portfolio reveals that thanks to their recent studio acquisition spree, they actually own a surprising amount of live-action-viable IPs.
For example, through Rare, Microsoft has licensing access to Jet Force Gemini, Killer Instinct, and Sea of Thieves, while their ownership of Ninja Theory opens them to do something with the Hellblade duology.
Meanwhile, Lionhead offers Fable, Double Fine brought with it Psychonauts, and Playground Games has the keys to Forza Horizon (which has a non-zero chance of getting an adaptation thanks to Gran Turismo and Need for Speed).
Then, there’s ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard.
With the former being the parent company of Bethesda, Microsoft has the rights to franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, Quake, and Prey, to say nothing of Doom if they want to take another crack at that one, while the latter holds notable IPs like Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Overwatch.
Of course, just because they’re allowed to serve these franchises up for adaptation, that doesn’t mean Microsoft knows what they’re doing when they do so.
After all, for all the praise Fallout received from both casual viewers and fans of the video game series, it still did feature some questionable decisions that, thanks to the show’s canon status, ended up having some highly controversial changes to the franchise’s timeline.
And then, of course, there was Halo, which turned the series’ iconic Master Chief from a stoic military weapon into a sexually active, joke-making rebel.
The less said of this one the better, but all in all, the fact that it did happen is proof that any Xbox fan who may find themselves excited at the prospect of another live-action series would do well to temper their expectations.
Of course, there’s a chance that Microsoft has genuinely learned the right lessons from Halo‘s failure and Fallout‘s success – how likely of a chance one can’t say, but a chance nonetheless – and will end up producing more genuinely good projects than not.
While this would be the most welcome outcome, given their current 50-50 track record, it’s a genuine crapshoot trying to predict the future.
All in all, Microsoft’s next chance to prove themselves in the live-action sphere will come with the aforementioned A Minecraft Movie, which is currently set to dig its way into theaters on April 4th.
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