Phil Spencer Says FALLOUT and MINECRAFT Success Is Fueling More Xbox Adaptations
The wild success of the Fallout series and the A Minecraft Movie has inspired Phil Spencer at Xbox headquarters, and the Microsoft Gaming boss opened up about how these projects are shaping the future of game-to-screen adaptations under Xbox’s banner.
During an interview with Variety, Spencer said: "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. And we like it, and our community seems to get a lot of energy through it."
Spencer is looking to let the creativity lead. He emphasized that each project is a learning experience, whether it hits big like Fallout or stumbles a bit like earlier efforts.
“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. 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.”
Spencer does acknowledge that some adaptations will miss the mark. That’s just part of the evolution. “All of these build on themselves and we'll have, obviously, a couple that miss, it's just kind of part of it,” he said.
“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.”
So what’s next? That’s still under wraps. Spencer isn’t ready to tease what future projects might be brewing behind the scenes, and he’s fine keeping it that way.
“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.
“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.”
But before anyone starts dreaming up an Xbox Cinematic Universe, Spencer makes it clear that these adaptations are not about turning every franchise into a checklist item for film and TV.
“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,” he cautioned. “It's got to be about the creative outlet that linear media offers for our franchises.”
In other words, don’t expect Xbox to turn into a content factory. If a series gets adapted, it’s because someone has a compelling story to tell, not just because it’s trending.