--- description: Microsoft says it's closing Xbox Entertainment Studios, its nascent interactive entertainment wing formed in 2012. title: Microsoft Closes Xbox Entertainment Studios image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4188ca4fc1c9015e/69869c3b3bc999dd0a1a4966/xbox_studios.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Microsoft Is Shuttering Xbox Entertainment Studios, but Halo TV Series Lives On by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 17, 2014 10:20 PM CUT  Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios Phil Spencer speaks at the Microsoft Xbox E3 2012 media briefing in Los Angeles on June 4, 2012. Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios Phil Spencer speaks at the Microsoft Xbox E3 2012 media briefing in Los Angeles on June 4, 2012.Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 17, 2014 10:20 PM CUT This is the kind of day Microsoft’s having: first, the company announced [it was laying off 18,000 employees](http://time.com/3001280/microsoft-to-cut-18000-jobs "undefined"), most of those from the company’s recently purchased Nokia division. Now, in the wake of that bombshell, the company says it’s closing Xbox Entertainment Studios, its nascent interactive entertainment wing formed in 2012 to create original television content for the company’s Xbox Live online service. On the chopping block are roughly 200 jobs in California and British Columbia (it’s not clear if all 200 are layoffs, or whether some of those jobs will wind up reshuffled within the company). Bearish as analysts have been about Microsoft’s Xbox program in general, and especially in light of CEO Satya Nadella’s [recent assurances](http://time.com/2972888/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-suggests-the-future-of-xbox-could-be-mobile/ "undefined") about Redmond’s commitment to the Xbox brand, I’m not sure anyone saw _this_ coming (and despite the fact that in hindsight Nadella said nothing specific about Xbox Entertainment Studios in that note — I assumed, as I’m sure most did, that when he talked Xbox, he meant the whole enchilada). Xbox Entertainment’s biggest projects were arguably _Halo: Nightfall_, an upcoming digital feature, and a _Halo_ TV series staged in the popular sci-fi universe and produced by Steven Spielberg. Xbox Entertainment’s closure doesn’t spell the end for those projects or even of Microsoft’s interest in original programming, but it means the scope for such projects will change. After the closure announcement, Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer issued a memo committing to original programming “already in production,” including the documentary series _Signal to Noise_ and both _Halo: Nightfall_ and the _Halo_ TV series, “which will continue as planned with \[_Halo_ developer\] 343 Industries.” --- > “” --- Despite Spencer’s assurances, this is Microsoft pretty clearly hitting the eject button on a dedicated content-creation studio shortly after takeoff. It’s not clear what went wrong, or even if something did. My guess would be that Nadella viewed the studio’s standalone existence in the company hierarchy as too far outside his reimagined (or, you could argue, doubled-down-on) wheelhouse, that wheelhouse being “a productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world.” Read through [Nadella’s missive](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/ceo/index.html "undefined") again, and in view of what’s happened, it’s easier to see how Xbox Entertainment Studios hit the cutting room floor today, though that’ll do nothing to assuage studio talent fresh out of a job. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3002474/microsoft-xbox-entertainment-studios/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3002474/microsoft-xbox-entertainment-studios/"},"headline":"Microsoft Is Shuttering Xbox Entertainment Studios, but Halo TV Series Lives On","datePublished":"2014-07-17T22:20:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:48.287Z","description":"The studio, created just a few years ago and employing some 200, will close its doors immediately.","url":"https://time.com/3002474/microsoft-xbox-entertainment-studios/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games","Microsoft","xbox"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4188ca4fc1c9015e/69869c3b3bc999dd0a1a4966/xbox_studios.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Peckham","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-peckham/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4188ca4fc1c9015e/69869c3b3bc999dd0a1a4966/xbox_studios.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios Phil Spencer speaks at the Microsoft Xbox E3 2012 media briefing in Los Angeles on June 4, 2012.","caption":"Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios Phil Spencer speaks at the Microsoft Xbox E3 2012 media briefing in Los Angeles on June 4, 2012.","creditText":"Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3002474/microsoft-xbox-entertainment-studios/","name":"Microsoft Is Shuttering Xbox Entertainment Studios, but Halo TV Series Lives On"}}]}] ```