Microsoft may have thrown in the towel on its Xbox Entertainment Studios, but Halo fans need not worry. The promised TV series, produced by Steven Spielberg, is still on. So is the five-part miniseries "Halo: Nightfall," which is being bundled with "The Master Chief Collection" video game release.
The company's new CEO, Satya Nadella, has decided to streamline the company through a number of changes, which include laying off 18,000 employees over the next year.
The shakeup also spells doom for Xbox Entertainment Studios, which was to be Xbox's division for producing original programming, similar to the original shows found on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus. Xbox's programming division may be no more, but according to an email sent out to Microsoft employees by Xbox chief Phil Spencer, the two programs built around the Halo franchise are unaffected.
"Halo: Nightfall" is a five-part miniseries written by Paul Scheuring, creator of "Prison Break," and produced by Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions. "Nightfall" tells the origin story of new character Agent Locke, who is set to be a major (and playable) character in "Halo 5: Guardians." Mike Colter has been cast as Locke for the series.
Far less is known about the tentatively titled "Halo: The Television Series," the much-discussed ongoing series first announced in 2013 at the Xbox One unveiling. Steven Spielberg is producing the show, and Microsoft has reportedly been in talks with Showtime to co-produce the show. It was originally expected to debut by Q2 2014, but that's been postponed to Q3 or Q4 2015 to allow for additional developmental time.
Perhaps more will be revealed about both shows at next week's San Diego Comic-Con. A panel is scheduled for Thursday, July 24th, devoted to "Halo: Nightfall," which is said to include the first details about story and the production, as well as a brief trailer for the show.
Spencer told his team that Xbox's lineup of entertainment apps will not be affected. "Our app partnerships with world-class content providers bringing entertainment, sports, and TV content to Xbox customers around the world are not impacted by this organizational change in any way and remain an important component of our Xbox strategy," he told IGN.
Aside from Netflix and the like, Xbox Entertainment Services would have received additional competition from Sony in the form of PlayStation TV. The first show announced for PSTV is "Powers," based on the comic book by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming.
