Netflix tried to secure seven years of exclusive rights to turn Xbox video game franchises into films and television series, opening with an offer of $500 million. Microsoft’s gaming leadership judged the catalogue to be worth considerably more and countered at $800 million. The talks ended without a deal, and the streamer has since withdrawn its proposal. Neither company has confirmed the figures.
The abandoned arrangement would have handed a single platform a long-term hold on some of the industry’s best-known game properties at a moment when streaming services are competing hard for recognizable franchises. Microsoft is now shopping individual titles to several buyers instead.
- Key Point: Netflix proposed a seven-year exclusive licensing agreement covering film and television adaptations of Xbox games, with an opening offer of $500 million.
- Key Point: Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma and Microsoft’s business affairs team responded with an $800 million demand, a gap of $300 million between the two positions.
- Key Point: The negotiations collapsed after Bela Bajaria, the Netflix executive who initiated them, left the company during a round of senior departures.
- Key Point: Xbox says it is excited about upcoming Minecraft and Diablo animated series on Netflix, and favors smaller deals with multiple partners over one exclusive pact.
A $300 million gap that neither side would close
Bajaria, then Netflix’s chief content officer, put the seven-year exclusive licensing proposal on the table, which would have given the service the right to develop adaptations of Xbox titles while shutting rivals out. Sharma and Microsoft’s business affairs team came back asking for $300 million more. Spread across the term, Netflix’s figure worked out to roughly $71 million a year; Microsoft’s counter implied about $114 million.
Netflix chief financial officer Spencer Neumann was among those who considered the asking price excessive. The companies did not identify which franchises were under discussion, nor whether existing licensing arrangements would have been affected. Netflix declined to comment.
The collapse coincided with a wider reshuffle at the streamer. Netflix announced layoffs affecting roughly 1,000 staff, and several senior figures, including Bajaria and head of film Dan Lin, were let go days later. With the executive who had championed the Xbox talks out of the company, the offer was withdrawn rather than renegotiated.
Microsoft opts for many small deals over one large one
Xbox did not treat the outcome as a setback, describing Hollywood’s appetite for its properties as stronger than ever.
“We have received record-breaking interest in our I.P.; Netflix is a valued partner and we are excited for the forthcoming release of our Minecraft and Diablo animated series together, among other adaptations.”
That statement points to a working relationship that survives even though the blockbuster package does not. A live-action Gears of War adaptation has been in development at Netflix for some time, an animated Minecraft series was announced in 2024, and plans for an animated Diablo show were confirmed last month. Rather than tie its catalogue to one platform for seven years, Xbox is seeking smaller licensing deals with a broader set of partners — an approach that would let it place different franchises with different studios. The company unveiled a dedicated entertainment division, XP, only weeks ago.
Reasons for caution on both sides
Microsoft’s own television record shows the risk of a long commitment. Its live-action Halo series, produced with Paramount, arrived in 2022, returned for a second season in February 2024 and was cancelled that July. A single big-budget adaptation can end abruptly, while a seven-year exclusive lock-in is a far larger bet for whoever buys it.
The upside is equally visible. Amazon’s Fallout, drawn from a Bethesda franchise Microsoft picked up with ZeniMax, became a major streaming success, and A Minecraft Movie showed that a gaming brand can pull theatrical audiences. Through its purchases of ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has added Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Doom and The Elder Scrolls to a portfolio that already included Halo and Gears of War.
What remains unanswered is whether Netflix will bid for individual Xbox properties now that the package is off the table. Xbox has not named the partners it is approaching, and no terms have been disclosed. Still, the episode establishes a reference price for Microsoft’s catalogue at a moment when every major streamer is hunting for franchises with built-in audiences — and it makes clear that the company intends to be paid accordingly.