Xbox Studios confirms first original series
December 20, 2013
Xbox Entertainment Studios has picked up its first original show, ordering a documentary series from Oscar winner Simon Chinn and Emmy-award winning cousin Jonathan Chinn.
The untitled series will feature a string of original installments exploring the digital revolution, including new and different topics that have yet to be examined. The series, which will debut exclusively on Xbox in 2014, will launch with an episode examining the “great video game burial of 1983” when Atari – faced with negative response to the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game – buried millions of unsold game cartridges in a small New Mexico town.
The documentary series comes as Xbox Entertainment Studios president Nancy Tellem has been ramping the studio up to create original content for the 40 million customers worldwide who subscribe to Xbox Live, which already features fare from Netflix, ESPN, HBO Go, Amazon Prime and other providers. The company is also prepping a live-action TV series based on popular video game Halo, with Steven Spielberg attached as an executive producer.