New XBOX XP Division to Focus on Transmedia Spin-Offs
TV, movies, theme parks, and more.
XBOX is still in a state of flux. In one breath the company is pushing out middling games like Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day, titles which completely missed the mark in carrying on the legacy of their respective franchises. In the next breath, XBOX CEO Asha Sharma is talking about how the company's various IPs "can mean more to people than the time they spend playing them." If that's the case, then shouldn't the games honor what came before instead of systematically subverting and undermining the things that made them popular to begin with?
A question for another time, perhaps, as we instead focus on the announcement of XBOX XP (which is "a play on 'Experience Points'"), a new division within the company that will serve to expand XBOX's numerous intellectual properties into genres beyond that of video games. We've seen previous efforts, such as the abortive Halo TV series for Paramount+, but it seems that XBOX wants to take a more direct, hands-on approach to future "transmedia" projects. In a letter to XBOX staffers, Asha Sharma said the following:
At Town Hall on Tuesday, I talked about the four Cs and the choices we are making to put them into practice. You’ve seen a lot of our work on Core and Content. Today I want to share two leadership appointments supporting Creator and Connection. Kayleen Walters will transition from her role at Mojang to President of XP, a new XBOX division focused on how people experience our franchises beyond the games themselves, and Maria Angelidou-Smith will join XBOX as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft. Both will report to me.
According to Sharma, these are the four areas that XP will be concentrating on:
XBOX PICTURES for film and television adaptations
XBOX PRODUCTS for licensing and merchandise
XBOX PARTNERSHIPS for sponsors and brand partners
XBOX PLACES for our marquee broadcast and in-person events, theme parks, and other location-based experiences
Again, all great ideas in concept, but execution? How will movies work if they're bastardizations of the core concept, like the aforementioned Halo show? How do you build a theme park for an IP that you're actively undermining with unwanted new characters and out of place themes in games like Gears of War: E-Day? In fairness to Sharma, E-Day and Campaign Evolved are legacy projects from before here time, but if XBOX XP is going to be worth the time and effort, the core experience, the games, need to be priority-one and faithful to the themes, characters, and stories that made them what they are.
We'll continue to update as we learn more.
Source: XBOX Wire
