Today it emerged that Microsoft are planning to close their adventurous venture Xbox Entertainment in order to concentrate more on the video game business. This story, broken here, is just part of Microsoft’s proposed consolidation which could mean losses of thousands of jobs across the company.
It is expected that Microsoft will continue making the Halo TV series, which was something they announced excitedly some time ago. The close of Xbox Entertainment, which is expected to occur in the upcoming months, will also not affect Halo: Nightfall or the upcoming documentary series, Signal to Noise, which has a first episode about Atari.
Perhaps this marks Microsoft scaling back their multimedia plans for the Xbox One, last year’s E3 was full of promises of multimedia experiences but this year it was all about the games. Presumably this is a reaction to fan feedback, who were clearly disappointed with Microsoft’s focus on things like Netflix compatibility and Halo re-releases. This again proves the power of consumer feedback, especially in times of austerity.