Microsoft has announced a landmark partnership between Academy Award-winning writer, director, and producer Peter Jackson, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Fran Walsh, and Microsoft Game Studios to create two new interactive entertainment series exclusively for Xbox 360™ and Xbox Live®.

The first series will be a collaborative effort with Bungie Studios to co-create the next great chapter in the Halo universe. The second series will be an entirely original property targeted at bringing new audiences into the captivating world of interactive entertainment.

“Microsoft has built an amazing living canvas with
Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, which allows the storytellers
of our time to express themselves in a new medium."
—Peter Jackson

In addition, Microsoft Game Studios will partner with Jackson and Walsh to establish Wingnut Interactive, a studio dedicated to the creation of world-class interactive entertainment.

Expanding Interactive Entertainment

Xbox 360 continues to expand the interactive entertainment landscape, enabling industry superstars to take beloved franchises in exciting new directions. Microsoft Game Studios announced its partnership with Jackson to herald in a new age of interactive entertainment that can only be realized on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

The goal of this partnership is to create new stories and redefine the way they are told. The first part of this long-term relationship is for Jackson, Walsh and team to bring to life two new interactive entertainment experiences exclusively for the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

The first project is to co-write, co-design and co-produce a completely new and original chapter in the Halo universe in collaboration with Bungie Studios. The second project is an entirely original property from the team in New Zealand that will not only bring a whole new interactive story to life, but will also captivate new audiences that have yet to discover the power of interactive entertainment.

Wingnut Interactive

In addition, in collaboration with Microsoft Game Studios, Jackson and Walsh are creating Wingnut Interactive. The two will create a world-class interactive entertainment studio that fuses the strength of Microsoft’s technology and interactive entertainment experience with the creative and imaginative excellence of the Wingnut Interactive team.

“Microsoft has built an amazing living canvas with Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, which allows the storytellers of our time to express themselves in a new medium. They have fundamentally changed how people think about games,” Jackson said. “My vision, together with Microsoft Game Studios, is to push the boundaries of game development and the future of interactive entertainment. From a movie-maker’s point of view, it is clear to me that the Xbox 360 platform is the stage where storytellers can work their craft in the same way they do today with movies and books but taking it further with interactivity.”