Microsoft has plans for hundreds more Xbox One TV shows

It seems that Microsoft really wants to make use of its next flagship console as a media hub, since it has plans in place for hundreds of Xbox One exclusive shows and series over the coming years. We've already seen the likes of Halo: Forward Unto Dawn and heard a few scant details about the upcoming Halo series directed by Spielberg, but what else does the console developer have to offer us?

At the Tokyo Game Show 2013, Phill Spencer from Microsoft gave us just a hint of what's to come. Whilst speaking with Bloomberg and Reuters about the LA based production studio that Microsoft has been working with, he said that it has, “literally hundreds of ideas that it is incubating right now”. With former CBS president Nancy Tellem heading up the studio, the team has been working on all sorts of “interactive and linear content for Xbox” exclusively for Microsoft, and we should start expecting more news on them pretty soon.

If Microsoft is actually working on hundreds of TV projects, then just what does it have in mind for gamers and how they access their media?

Well, it's not like this wasn't popular. Why not try with even more games or series?

What was most interesting was when Spencer confirmed that the content would have a “certain level of interactivity”, suggesting that player input might still be a part of how these series will work. If so, that's a pretty cool idea, giving the audience a small modicum of control over what goes on in the series. With enough effort and filming, you could realistically create a Choose Your Own Adventure style show which just throws options at the viewer every now and then.

Other series such as Defiance or Quantum Break are going to, or have had, a direct effect on the games that they are linked to. EVE Online is getting similar treatment with a series that will be showing off a number of the playerbase's more exotic exploits. There's a lot of potential for linking games with regularly broadcast shows and it opens up all new options for developers and storywriters.

We don't know much more about the supposed hundreds of projects, just that we “will have some new announcement for TV shows coming pretty soon”. Hopefully we can expect to hear more news on how Microsoft is tackling regular media on the Xbox One soon.

KitGuru Says: I'm really interested in what Microsoft has to show us. I'd love more series that have impact on particular games, possibly involving player actions as news or events in the series. Games and TV are two very similar kinds of media and there's a lot of scope for experimentation between the two.

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