14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has talked a bit more about the upcoming Xbox Originals content that will be released by the company for its different devices, saying that the development of these projects hasn't cut into the gaming focus of the Xbox division as a whole.
The Xbox One was revealed last year at first with a presentation focused on entertainment and sports, and a few weeks later with a press conference that revolved around actual games for the console.
As you can imagine, this didn't exactly go so well with hardcore gamers, who felt like Microsoft was abandoning the gaming focus of a console while trying to deliver a full-on entertainment device that just happens to play games.
The new Xbox head, Phil Spencer, has recently reaffirmed the company's interest in gaming, saying that the upcoming E3 2014 press conference will be filled with games, announcements, and other such reveals.
However, Microsoft has just unveiled this week the Xbox Originals, an initiative that will debut film and TV shows onto the Xbox One, as well as on other platforms like Surface tablets.
According to Xbox Entertainment Studios Executive Vice President Jordan Levin, the work done on Xbox Originals isn't cutting into the gaming focus of the Xbox division overall.
"It's also probably worth saying that none of the activity we're pursuing is coming at the expense any of the investment that's been made in the platform overall or gaming overall," Levin told Polygon. "There isn't shifting of resources away from gaming to this. I mean, the nice thing about playing in a device like this, again, that's nonlinear is there's no finite space restrictions."
"We're simply a new service that is meant to increase the value proposition for the audience, and if they want to opt in, great, and if they don't, then we'll react and respond. But we're not, there's nothing that's getting displaced in the process of what we're trying to build."
Microsoft's Entertainment and Digital Media President, Nancy Tellem, also emphasized that, while quite a few Xbox Originals projects were intended for the Xbox One, some work even better for Surface tablets, for example, so the whole initiative doesn't focus just on the new home console.
"Certain types of interactivity that we're building will work really well on the console, but if you want to watch what we're offering on your Surface, it may be a few of those and not all of them. And so, you know, but the important thing is that we're on all these platforms. That's going to be the most important thing."
Xbox Originals will debut later this year, and you can expect to hear more about the different projects over time.