Game News

Netflix offered Xbox $500m for its games, Xbox wanted $800m, and the deal fell apart

Netflix offered Microsoft $500 million for exclusive rights to adapt Xbox games into film and TV, but Xbox countered with $800 million and the deal collapsed. The report came from Matthew Belloni's Puck newsletter on 23 October, citing three sources, and was picked up the same day by Eurogamer and South Korea's Inven Global.

Inven Global said the offer covered seven years and was made by Bela Bajaria, then Netflix's content chief; Puck reported that chief financial officer Spence Neumann was among those who thought it too expensive. The offer has since been withdrawn after Bajaria's exit, and she is being replaced by Peter Rice, a Disney and Fox veteran who is expected to pursue more IP deals.

Xbox already has Minecraft and Diablo animated series in the works with Netflix. In its response, Xbox called Netflix a “valued partner” and pointed to its own pull with Hollywood.

Xbox cited “record-breaking interest in our I.P.” — via Inven Global

Netflix declined to comment, Inven Global said, and Xbox is reportedly pursuing smaller deals with more partners instead.

How each outlet framed it

• Eurogamer — a $300m gap: the deal supposedly fell through over “one minor quibble” about price, with existing Minecraft and Diablo shows as context.
• Inven Global — the people behind the numbers: who made the offer, who opposed it inside Netflix, and the leadership change that ended it.

What we don't know yet: neither report named which Xbox games the bigger deal would have covered.