Microsoft attempting to sell Xbox Entertainment Studios

Microsoft is in talks with Warner Bros. to sell its shuttered TV production company Xbox Entertainment Studios according to sources close to the matter.

Sources talking to The Hollywood Reporter say that the studio would either become its own entity based or that Warner Bros. would attempt to merge it with popular Youtube network Machinima, which it owns a stake in.

The talks are very early stages and Microsoft and Warner Bros. have both declined to comment or issue statements.

Xbox Entertainment Studios was shut down in July as part of an initiative from Microsoft’s new chief executive Satya Nadella for the company to focus more on its core businesses, which does not include original television programming.

Microsoft’s Xbox Originals project of a series of TV show format programmes was announced in April and was going to include two Halo-themed projects, a series of documentaries starting with the Atari E.T cartridge excavation and an eight-part unscripted series about footballers.

The fate of all of the promised projects that were part of Xbox Originals is mostly unknown, but some of the line up has remained unaffected by the studio’s closure. Halo: Nightfall, a live action web series with director Ridley Scott attached as executive producer, is still in production and set for a November 2014 release.

Microsoft has experimented with video content for the Halo series before and in 2012 released Forward Unto Dawn, a five part web series set in the Halo universe. The company worked with Machinma which dealt with the distribution of the series.