Microsoft’s efforts to go up against rivals like Netflix and Amazon in the TV arena by commissioning original TV programming for its Xbox service will bear its first fruit in June this year, according to Bloomberg.
Reported today, comedians Sarah Silverman and Seth Green, “aspiring World Cup players” and human-like robots will star in some of the first content to come out of Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios. Additionally, Microsoft announced today that it had signed a deal with UK broadcaster Channel 4 to co-produce “a bold new drama” called ‘Humans’, which will air on the Xbox platform in North America and Channel 4 in the UK in 2015.
The move is a leap into the unknown for Microsoft. It has no heritage in creating original TV programming but changing market dynamics, and the success of rival series like Netflix’s House of Cards, have obviously convinced the company to dip a toe into the water in the hope that it will drive sales of its console and subscribers to its Xbox Live services.
➤ Microsoft Goes Hollywood in Amazon-Like Programming Push [Bloomberg]
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