“Synergy” is a word often used in business to highlight how various properties that can “be tied together in some way” should be tied together when key releases happen. For example, when a movie releases that will likely have a big impact, companies try to do merch for that film so that viewers will see the movie and then buy all these other products. In the case of video games, that happens as well, though, sometimes, not as often as you might think, as Phil Spencer is willing to admit. In an interview with Variety, he acknowledged that when the Fallout TV series arrived on Amazon Prime Video last year, they didn’t do that much with it in terms of video game tie-ins, despite the options being there:
“I was glad we had ‘Fallout 76,’ and even ‘Fallout Shelter’ grew when the ‘Fallout’ television show came out. We had the ‘Fallout 4’ remaster there so there was something for the community that was loving the TV show to try something new in ‘Fallout.’ But I wouldn’t say we perfected that, of being ready and having a date when we knew the show was going to come out, and really we learned from it, is the best way of putting it. I think with ‘Minecraft,’ we’re doing some things that are more unique, in terms of content and the alignment of the movie with the things that we’re doing. But this is a great example of us learning.”
So, that raises the question, why didn’t Phile Spencer and the rest of the Xbox brand have some big stuff ready for when the TV show dropped?
“Trying to align production schedules for new games and new movies at the same time, I think, is probably beyond our creative capability right now. And I don’t even know that that’s the goal. But for things like a ‘Minecraft’ or a ‘Fallout,’ things that are ongoing and have communities, it makes a ton of sense for us to allow people who love the movie or love the television show to celebrate that in the game. And I like the plans that the team has on ‘Minecraft’ around this.”
Whether you agree with what Spencer has to say on this is up to you. Many will likely point out that there “were ways” to better help gamers enjoy the universe more after the TV show came out, as he noted the options that were available to him and Xbox as a whole.
Perhaps we’ll see something more from them when Season 2 arrives.
