By Nelson Schneider - 07/27/25 at 06:11 PM CT
Remember the disastrous Xbox One (a.k.a., XBONE) reveal, where Microsoft’s representatives spent all of their time talking about how you could have all of your non-gaming content (a.k.a., ‘it’) in one place, with little concern for showing actual exclusive games one might wish to play on the ostensible game console that was the XBONE? That feature came to be known as Microsoft Movies and TV… and they’re officially shutting ‘it’ down.
This reminds me uncomfortably of Microsoft’s decision to kill-off Windows Media Center and the dedicated versions of their flagship OS that came with it. The MJ Crew was SERIOUSLY invested in the success of Windows Media Center, with both Nick and I going whole-hog into cord-cutting (though, being rural, I never had a cord to begin with) and placing Windows Media Center-powered Home Theater PCs at the beating heart of our media consumption experience. The key difference, of course, is the fact that Windows Media Center was really, really good, and an incredible value for the price, whereas MS Movies and TV is… not that.
It’s been a rough couple of years for the Xbox Division. In spite of the massive amount of MS money the parent company dumped into their gaming division for the purpose of acquisitions and mergers, Xbox is still dragging-ass in last place when it comes to Console Wars – which are, ironically, increasingly being won by PC Gaming. Is the former House of Gates tacitly admitting that there was never a reason to own an XBONE? If the console’s CORE feature isn’t worth supporting a mere Generation later, it couldn’t have been worth investing into a hardware ecosystem for it in the first place… right?
Another aspect to consider regarding the death of MS Movies and TV is the fact that the XBONE core app was in the business of selling individual licenses for digital copies of movies and TV shows (complete with egregious DRM), which is, itself, an endangered species in the greater media ecosystem. Even though they’re struggling mightily, nearly all of the massive corporate entities who control media licensing are still doubling, tripling, and quadrupling-down on streaming as the future of media consumption, even as the userbase collapses under the weight of Subscription Fatigue, and the number of people creating their own physical media libraries via the purchase of (frequently second-hand) DVD and Blu-Ray discs grows.
At least Microsoft is being a little bit less terrible than Sony, as they are still allowing existing MS Movies and TV purchases to be used, only disabling new purchases, whereas Sony has recently made waves by delisting and blanket-revoking licenses altogether. Regardless, these shenanigans from console-makers only solidify the growing position that buying digital media on heavily-DRM’d walled-garden platforms is a complete waste. Not exactly the best messaging from a company that desperately wants/needs Gamepass to succeed.
