Newfronts: Games-Related Series Planned at Xbox, 'NY Times' Redesigns Video Platform

NewFronts: Games-Related Series Planned at Xbox, 'NY Times' Redesigns Video Platform

04.28.2014

The long-anticipated "Halo" series is still in the works, according to Xbox, but gamers might have to wait just a little bit longer.

Microsoft presented its extensive programming plans during its NewFront Monday, which includes plenty of gaming franchises made popular on the console with a few other content ideas to appeal to its young, largely male crowd.

As part of its larger strategy to make the Xbox console a one-stop shop for entertainment at home, Xbox Entertainment Studios has begun to focus much more of its energy on creating original content. And between set-top boxes already on the market and PlayStation announcing its intention to enter into original content, Xbox faces stiff competition.

Production on the "Halo" live-action series from Steven Spielberg hasn't started yet, but Xbox did announce plans for series based on "Age Of Empires," "Fable" and "Gears Of War." There are also initial plans for a digital feature surrounding the "Halo" brand as well as a science fiction drama co-produced by Channel 4, "Humans," expected to premiere next year. "We're looking for things that are smart, disruptive, a little noisy and captivating," said Microsoft's Nancy Tellem. Each project will have an interactive element to bring the subject back to its gaming roots, according to Xbox, but the focus will be on the storytelling.

Two unscripted projects are in the works for this summer, including a live stream of Bonnaroo in June and the soccer docuseries "Every Street United," a nine-episode show about the search for talented soccer stars from around the world, which will debut alongside the World Cup. The full-length feature "Atari: Game Over" will air exclusively on Xbox consoles later this year as the first installment of a documentary series called "Signal to Noise." Other non-gaming projects in development include a comedy series from JASH and a stop-motion show from the team at Adult Swim's "Robot Chicken."Â

"Microsoft is seeing the rewards of being in the content business. They understand the risks and have made that investment," said Xbox Entertainment executive Jordan Levin. "It's all experimental at this stage - we'll see what works and what doesn't work."

According to Tellem, no decisions have been made whether this content will be available as part of the Xbox Live subscription or if it will be supported by advertising.

"The New York Times" also joined the NewFronts this week, pushing its redesigned video hub and renewed dedication to digital content. In the past year, the "Times" has doubled its video staff, added Acura as the initial sponsor of its hub and reorganized the video channels to include overall topics like Opinion, Times Documentaries, Technology, Style, Health, Real Estate and Science.

Rebecca Howard, GM of video, called the NewFronts appearance "a branding exercise" for the video content, which has been a much larger part of the "Times" site in the past year. They partnered with Vimeo for branded content originals, and have plans to approach set-top boxes within the next year. New video projects include regular features translated into video like "36 Hours" but also new series like "Verbatim," a word-for-word reading of legal documents from the comedy team Upright Citizens Brigade.