After the success of 2024’s Fallout TV show and this year’s viral Minecraft movie, there’s no denying that on-screen adaptations of beloved video games can work well – and Microsoft Gaming lead Phil Spencer hints that there could be more underway.
Speaking in a recent interview with Variety, Spencer discusses what the future might hold as seasons 2 of Fallout is in the works and A Minecraft Movie has successfully released. “I think what I would say to our fans of this is we’re learning and growing through this process, which is giving us more confidence that we should do more,” admits the lead. “And we like it, and our community seems to get a lot of energy through it.”
Spencer continues, describing how the company is able to “learn something” with each new adaptation. “I think we learn something through our creative process every time we find a good partner who has their point of view on how different parts of the story can be told,” he states. “I’ll go all the way back to ‘Halo’ [the TV series adaptation at Paramount+]. We learned from doing ‘Halo,’ we learn from doing ‘Fallout.'”
The lead goes on, saying that while some adaptations might “miss,” it’s simply a part of the process. “All of these build on themselves and we’ll have, obviously, a couple that miss, it’s just kind of part of it,” explains Spencer – but these so-called misses won’t stop Xbox from collaborating on future projects: “I think what I’d say to the community that likes this work is, you’re going to see more, because we’re gaining confidence, and we’re learning through this.”
There’s no telling what “more” actually is just yet, though. “That’s why it’s hard for me to tease any specific thing, because while I know all of these things that are in the creative process, I want to give them time, and I don’t want to put any undue pressure on them,” as Spencer puts it. “I like the stories that our teams are writing now, and the games that they’re launching. There’s just a lot of interest from traditional media and we’re happy about that.”
The potential for more adaptations doesn’t mean Spencer wants them to become “more like licensing,” as “the video game business is successful by itself,” however – creativity is key. “Let’s never turn this into something where it has to get done, every franchise has to have a game or a movie or a TV show, and it becomes more like licensing. It’s got to be about the creative outlet that linear media offers for our franchises.”
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