Xbox rejected Netflix’s $500 million bid and asked for $800 million

Puck reports that Netflix offered Microsoft’s Xbox $500 million for seven years of exclusive television and film rights to adapt its full catalog, but Xbox rejected the proposal and countered at $800 million.

What was Netflix trying to buy?

Puck’s account says the proposed package would have put Xbox’s entire property catalog into play. Adaptations could have covered Halo, Gears of War, Fable and more, with Netflix securing exclusive screen rights for seven years.

The scope made the proposal broader than a first-look pact or a short slate of individual licenses. The reported $500 million applied to one seven-year package, not separate budgets for each franchise. For studios, that means duration, exclusivity and franchise access sat inside a single negotiation.

Why did Xbox turn it down?

Xbox’s response was not a small price adjustment. After rejecting Netflix’s $500 million proposal, the company tried to raise the asking price to $800 million. That created a $300 million gap and a 60 percent increase over the reported offer.

Netflix reportedly balked at the higher figure and walked away. The price moved in round numbers; the deal did not.

Puck also identifies a personnel change as a key factor. Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, had been involved in pushing the initiative, but she exited the role earlier in the month. Without Bajaria to fight for the initiative, the newsletter says, Netflix had little appetite for prolonged negotiations.

That explanation remains a reported assessment rather than an on-record account from Bajaria, Netflix or Xbox. Puck treats her departure as reducing Netflix’s internal support for the proposal, but does not present it as the sole cause.

What does XP change for Xbox?

Xbox has recently introduced XP, a division created specifically to handle multimedia adaptations such as the television and film rights Netflix had sought. The unit gives that work a named organizational home inside Xbox.

For studios, rights holders and production teams, the distinction is practical. A catalog-wide negotiation bundles duration, exclusivity and multiple recognizable franchises; XP’s creation indicates that Xbox plans to handle multimedia adaptations as a distinct business function. The rejected $800 million proposal offers a reference point, though not a transaction benchmark, because no agreement closed.

A price signal is still a price signal. Xbox’s ask positioned the catalog as worth more over seven years than Netflix’s $500 million proposal allowed. It does not reveal a per-franchise allocation because no deal was agreed.

Are Netflix and Xbox still adapting games?

Yes. Netflix and Xbox remain involved in adaptation projects despite the failed package. Netflix announced a Diablo television series at BlizzCon 2026. Netflix and Xbox also announced a Minecraft television series in 2024.

That ongoing work narrows what the failed negotiation changed. It did not end the companies’ adaptation relationship, and the reported price dispute does not cancel the Diablo or Minecraft projects. It instead leaves a gap between the broad, seven-year catalog opportunity Netflix pursued and the project-level partnership the two companies have shown.

The report also cites Amazon’s Fallout adaptation and Warner Bros.’s Minecraft adaptation as existing examples of major game-to-screen releases. Those titles provide market context for the proposed package; they do not erase the reported $300 million gap between Netflix’s bid and Xbox’s ask.

For Netflix, walking away avoided the reported $800 million price. For Xbox, XP provides a structure for pursuing adaptation work as a dedicated function. The next signal to watch is XP’s first public slate and whether either company revives a broader rights package.