Imagine someone offers you $500 million and you say "hmm, not quite". That's roughly what happened between Netflix and Xbox this autumn, according to Hollywood insiders.
The offer
The story comes from Puck, a newsletter for media insiders. Its writer Matthew Belloni reported on 23 October, citing three sources, that Netflix offered Xbox $500 million for seven years of exclusive rights to turn its games into films and TV series.
That's not one game. Game Developer says the deal would have covered Xbox's whole catalogue, including Halo, Gears of War and Fable. Think space soldiers, chainsaw guns and a fairy-tale England, all streaming in one place.
The counter-offer
Xbox didn't say no. It said more. According to the reports, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and her business team asked for $800 million. Game Developer points out that's a 60% jump. PocketGamer.biz puts it more simply: Xbox wanted $300 million extra.
Netflix walked away. The reports say finance chief Spence Neumann thought the deal was too expensive.
The juicy bit: the person who wanted it left
Here's the gossip angle. The offer reportedly came from Bela Bajaria, who was Netflix's content chief. She left that job earlier in October. Outlets describe her exit differently: Game Developer says she "exited the role", while InvenGlobal goes further and says she was fired. Either way, Puck says the offer was taken off the table after she was gone.
So the deal may have died less because of the money and more because the person who loved it wasn't in the room any more. Office life, but with a few more zeros.
What Xbox says
Netflix declined to comment. Xbox gave Puck a short, upbeat statement, quoted by VGC: "We have received record-breaking interest in our I.P.; Netflix is a valued partner and we are excited for the forthcoming release of our Minecraft and Diablo animated series together, among other adaptations."
Read between the lines: the two companies are still friends. Netflix and Xbox are already working on animated shows based on Minecraft and Diablo. And VGC reports that Xbox now prefers smaller deals with more partners rather than one big exclusive one. Earlier in October, Xbox also set up a new division, called XP, just for film and TV adaptations.
Why game rights are suddenly worth so much
For years, films based on video games had a terrible reputation. Then the hits came: The Last of Us on HBO, Arcane on Netflix, and the Super Mario Bros. Movie in cinemas. Studios now see games as ready-made worlds with millions of fans already attached.
Halo itself had a TV series on Paramount+, which ended after two seasons. So Xbox knows both sides: how much a famous name is worth, and how easy it is to get the show wrong.
What it means for you
If you were hoping for a Gears of War binge on Netflix next year, don't hold your breath. Nothing about future shows has been announced from this deal, because there is no deal. But if Xbox really goes for many smaller partners, its games could turn up on several different services instead of one.
And yes, that means more subscriptions to juggle. Sorry. We just report it.
Important note: everything here is based on one report, from Puck, which other outlets then repeated. Neither company has confirmed the numbers.