Netflix Reportedly Offered Xbox Half a Billion Dollars to Turn Games Into Movies & Shows, But There’s 1 Big Problem
A major partnership between Netflix and Xbox for exclusive rights to turn beloved game franchises into movies and TV shows may have fallen apart over a giant price tag. Years ago, Hollywood was in an arms race to grab the rights to any and every comic book movie it could, partially to capitalize on the success of the MCU and to follow suit. After the success of movies like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Resident Evil, plus shows like Fallout and The Last of Us, the arms race has now morphed toward video games, as the shadow that used to hang over these adaptations has largely evaporated.
According to a new report from Puck, Netflix was apparently ready to throw down a major sum to Xbox in an effort to gain the rights to its biggest franchises. The outlet reports that Bela Bajaria, former Chief Content Officer at Netflix, made an offer to Microsoft to exclusively license Xbox games for the streamer for seven years with a $500 million price tag. They report that Xbox countered the offer with $800 million, but now that Bajaria is no longer at the company, the offer “has been taken off the table.” Cost is one thing for this deal to have fallen apart, but there’s another one: a lot of the Xbox franchises are already claimed.
Failed Netflix & Xbox Deal Valued at $800 Million
Knowing that Netflix offered half a billion dollars to gain the rights to Xbox titles for movies and shows isn’t surprising, as the streamer has long been a big spender, but the fact they would throw down that much without access to some of the biggest franchises from Xbox is surprising. Even though Netflix is already knee-deep in Microsoft-owned adaptations, like Diablo, Minecraft, and Gears of War, titles like Call of Duty are in the works at Paramount, while Amazon Prime Video is the home of Fallout (and the streamer is also still working on Mass Effect and Wolfenstein). All of which begs the question: what was left for Netflix to even make?
Major Blizzard franchises like Warcraft, StarCraft, and even Overwatch seemingly remain on the table, all of which Netflix could have done something with, plus the likes of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls, ID Software’s Doom, Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds, and maybe even Forza. The crème de la crème, of course, would be Halo, a series that already has a troubled history with failed and poorly received adaptations.
It would appear, though, that Microsoft has already responded to the idea of one company having an all-encompassing rights package to its franchises. Earlier this month, Microsoft confirmed the formation of Xbox Pictures, a division that will actively work with production companies to find the best home for the individual franchises that they own. Rather than a broad deal, instead they’ll be licensing the rights on a per-project basis. At the time the announcement was made, it wasn’t clear that Microsoft and Netflix had even been in conversation. Now, though? Their announcement makes a lot more sense.