Xbox One Original Programming Coming Early Next Year

Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that it wants the Xbox One to be the center of your home entertainment universe, and to that end the company is always looking for more features to keep users engaged. Last year, word broke that Microsoft was going to be developing original content for the Xbox platform, but until now not much has been happening on that front besides a cursory mention of an original Steven Spielberg-produced live-action Halo series at the Xbox One launch event.

However, that promised content will be coming soon. “We’re hoping we will be able to put something up in the first quarter, at minimum second quarter,” Microsoft President of Entertainment and Digital Nancy Tellem told Variety.

Xbox One

The delay has been largely due to Tellem and company effectively framing this specific model to Hollywood types. She said that Xbox content is different from Netflix and Amazon. It sounds as though Microsoft still isn’t entirely clear on what they’re trying to do themselves, though--there’s a lot of figuring out what and how Xbox owners will consume original video content.

If nothing else, Microsoft has two things going for it in terms of this exploration into original programming: There are a great many Xbox Live subscribers to potentially consume it, and Steven Spielberg is producing (at least some of) it. That’s a solid start.