Microsoft today announced its largest lay-offs in company history ever, with 18,000 people getting affected over the next one year. With these layoffs, it appears that Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Division, which was supposed to be creating original programming content for the Xbox One, as part of Microsoft’s unified TV and living room strategy, has also been shut down, putting a premature end to that venture.
Xbox Entertainment Studios were founded last February, with the intent of providing quality content for Microsoft’s Xbox line of consoles beyond just games. However, so far, nothing has come out of this venture, and it appears that nothing will.
However, the Halo live action television series that was announced for later this year, due to air on Showtime and on Xbox One consoles, is still on track, and will continue to receive Microsoft’s funding; it is possible that Microsoft views the TV series as part of a cross media promotion of the Halo brand, rather than being part of an overarching TV strategy.