Xbox’s swashbuckling co-op adventure, Sea of Thieves, is set to be turned into a live-action movie. Around the same time, Microsoft is also weighing a comeback for the Halo franchise—at the very least, exploring additional efforts in that direction—and we’ve now received the first outline details for the Gears of War film. A storyline? Wait—no way!
The news traces back to Entertainment Weekly and a major interview it conducted with Microsoft. Let’s start with Sea of Thieves. EW says this is one of several movie projects currently in motion at Microsoft. The outlet reports that Marvel director Destin Daniel Cretton—who recently wrapped Spider-Man: Brand New Day—is producing the adaptation via his company, Hisako Films, though a director hasn’t been announced yet.
In that same EW interview, Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty remarked: “The primary character in Sea of Thieves is actually the player and the community. So if you take a moment to reflect on Sea of Thieves, it’s not about identifying the main characters or the storyline. It’s a highly social experience, but there’s a great deal to Sea of Thieves. It thrives on a deeply cooperative community, so you can begin to envision what that’s going to entail.”
I can’t quite picture what that might look like, but I assume it will lean into a cheerful, adventure-driven vibe. Maybe it’ll feel a little like Pirates of the Caribbean?
Next up is the question of whether Halo could return to TV. Paramount+ previously canceled the series after two seasons, but it recently regained traction on Netflix. “Halo, above all, is one of our premier franchises,” Booty said. “It’s a cornerstone of Xbox, and we are certainly looking to invest in it moving forward.” I personally watched a couple of episodes of the Halo series, and honestly, it was fine—there’s my hot take. I didn’t run into the kind of intimate moment people talk about.
Now, let’s talk Gears of War. The movie, helmed by The Fall Guy director David Leitch, is reportedly intended to cover the backstory of Delta Squad. This is the team that Marcus Fenix leads in the Gears of War games, and we should get more of that history as Gears of War: E-Day approaches.
The film’s synopsis reads: “The origin tale of Delta Squad, a motley crew of soldiers fighting a desperate battle for survival against the Locust, a species of underground creatures intent on annihilating humanity.” Enlightening, right?
It’s obvious that Microsoft wants to expand beyond gaming into film and other media for its properties. As Xbox leader Asha Sharma put it in the EW interview: “You won’t witness us striving to become the largest linear provider in the world or anything of that nature, but I believe great games form culture, and culture embodies entertainment.”
“If you consider it, we have the second most popular show of all time on Amazon [Fallout], Minecraft was in the top five in 2025, and Call of Duty surpasses the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So it all counts. [There’s] more interest in collaborating with us on titles than ever before.”
For the moment, though, attention is turning to what comes next for Xbox. The company is preparing to announce major restructuring that may lead to hundreds of layoffs and the closure of familiar, well-loved game studios. Developers such as Psychonauts’ Double Fine, South of Midnight’s Compulsion, and Hellblade’s Ninja Theory are reportedly at risk. And they may not be the only ones.