In a wide-ranging interview with Entertainment Weekly tied to Xbox's 25th anniversary, newly appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty made a striking case for the scale of Microsoft's gaming franchises - and none more so than Call of Duty.
"Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe," Sharma stated, framing the franchise as evidence that "great games are culture, and culture is entertainment." She backed up the claim with two other data points: Amazon's Fallout series as "the number two show of all time on Amazon," and the Minecraft movie landing in the top five films of 2025.
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Xbox's IP Bench and the "Billion-Dollar" Franchises
Booty put hard numbers around the breadth of Xbox's portfolio. Sharma was announced as EVP and CEO of Microsoft Gaming on February 20, 2026, following the retirement of Phil Spencer. Now four months into the role, she is leaning into cross-media momentum as the story Xbox wants to tell.
As Xbox celebrates its 25th year, Microsoft reports it now reaches over 500 million monthly active users and operates as a top publisher across all platforms.
Booty noted that Xbox holds "over 20 franchises that have made a billion dollars, lifetime" - a figure that speaks to the depth behind headline names like Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears of War. He framed the company's responsibility in communal terms: "We're the stewards of that IP. We're not the owners, because really, the communities own those."
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Gears of War Netflix Film Takes Shape
The interview also produced the clearest picture yet of the Netflix Gears of War live-action film currently in production. The film is directed by David Leitch and written by Jon Spaihts, and will focus on the origin story of Delta Squad and their battle against the Locust creatures.
The official description confirms the film will tell "the origin story of Delta Squad, a ragtag crew of soldiers who wage a desperate war for survival against the Locust, a race of subterranean creatures set on destroying humanity."
The live-action movie will chronicle how Delta Squad first came together, setting it before the events of the original game. Xbox will flesh out the timeline further with the release of Gears of War: E-Day, the sixth game in the series, scheduled for October 2026.
Booty highlighted why the franchise translates to a dramatic narrative. "When you go visit the studio, their tagline is 'Never Fight Alone.' So when you think about that for a dramatic narrative, it's a pretty good starting point," he said.
Plans for a Netflix Gears of War movie were cemented back in 2022, with Spaihts brought on board in 2023 to help pen the script. Spaihts is also known for his work adapting Frank Herbert's Dune books for Legendary alongside Denis Villeneuve.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | David Leitch (The Fall Guy, Bullet Train) |
| Writer | Jon Spaihts (Dune trilogy) |
| Studio/Streamer | Netflix / The Coalition |
| Story focus | Delta Squad origin |
| Related game | Gears of War: E-Day (Oct 2026) |
Halo's Future Left Open
When asked whether Halo might return to screens following the poor reception of the Paramount+ series, Booty was deliberately non-committal. "Halo, first and foremost, is one of our biggest franchises," he said. "It's iconic to Xbox, and we're certainly going to invest going forward." No specific adaptation plans were announced.
Sharma's Broader Vision
Sharma received scrutiny at the time of her appointment for having no prior professional experience in the video game industry. The Entertainment Weekly interview marks a continued effort to articulate where she wants to take the division. She described her first priority as learning what makes Xbox's creative output special: the depth of characters, worlds, and the potential to invite "millions, if not tens of millions of players."
The boldness of the MCU comparison is clearly intentional - Xbox under Sharma is pitching itself not just as a games publisher but as one of the biggest entertainment brands on the planet. Whether Call of Duty's numbers actually surpass the MCU's cumulative box office and streaming figures is a conversation for analysts, but the ambition behind the claim signals exactly how the new Xbox leadership intends to operate.
