Phil Spencer thinks Netflix is smart for leveraging its successful streaming business and jumping into video games.

In an interview with Kara Swisher for the New York Times’ Sway podcast, Spencer spoke more in-depth at video games’ continued growth and how it’s oftentimes a trendsetter for tech companies. Including how some tech companies look to games for inspiration.

Take Netflix, for example, which announced it’s making steady inroads into games first by including mobile games in with existing Netflix subscriptions, and then by acquiring critically-acclaimed studios like Nightschool. Spencer believes this is the right approach for the streaming giant.

“I think it’s smart what [Netflix is] doing,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer says. “They’re buying some studios. They’re learning about the creative process of interactive entertainment. And I think it’s a very smart way for them to move into the space.”

Netflix isn’t just about ready to compete with Xbox quite yet. Despite hiring an ex-EA executive to run its new games division, Netflix is primarily focused on the casual mobile market, which is still big business. Netflix has a library of popular shows that can easily become games and the company even bought the award-winning studio behind Oxenfree.

While the content is growing, Spencer sees Netflix has big potential thanks to its existing cloud and community. "Netflix clearly has cloud. Amazon has cloud. Google has a real cloud capability. But without content, community, and cloud, I think getting into gaming right now — and you can see this in what Netflix is doing."

Xbox has taken a page from Netflix’s book with Xbox Game Pass, which has long been popularly called the Netflix for games. Something Spencer doesn’t disagree with.

“From a streaming standpoint, it is. I’d say the difference for us is in the business model of — you can buy every game that’s available on the subscription, which is a little different than a music subscription or a movie subscription.”

Spencer says the transactions business is still Xbox’s biggest business and bigger than subscriptions, though he says subscriptions are growing faster.

The Xbox boss also took time to talk about Xbox’s social network and how it’s focused on games and not social discourse, as well as address industry topics like the metaverse and Activision’s current controversies.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Clyde Phillips wants Showtime to know that he's extremely available to do more Dexter. With Dexter: New Blood wrapping its run on Showtime yesterday, the showrunner conducted a media blitz with a one major message: He will happily keep the show going if Showtime will have him.

Acknowledging that the decision is "Showtime's call," Phillips told Collider he would "drop everything" to return to the show.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Dexter: New Blood's season finale!

"Well, it is really Showtime's call. And speaking of calls, if they were to call me and say, 'Look, this is a huge asset for Showtime' I think, and I underline the word think, I think Dexter is their number one asset. If they were to call me and say, 'We want to do Harrison. Are you interested?' Much like when they called me to say, 'We want to reboot Dexter, and you're the guy,' I would drop everything to do it," Phillips said.

He had a similar message on Deadline, where he called the show a "huge asset" for Showtime. "When people start bingeing this after the finale, I'm confident the numbers will continue to go up. It’s up to Showtime to make the call to me if they want more. If they ask me if I’d like to make a continuation of this, I would say yes. I have a lot of things going on but I would drop everything for this and say yes in one second."

A second season of Dexter: New Blood would seem tricky owing to the death of the titular character, which Phillips confirms is final ("I have three words for you: Dexter is dead," he said in the Deadline interview). However, Phillips has a pitch ready to go.

"Harrison is such a complicated character and he has within him the seeds of the dark passenger. He’s capable. Look at that takedown of Dexter in the end, what's in Harrison is that he has to kill this man," Phillips explained to Deadline.

"Also, Harrison brings a different perspective to the vigilantism of it all than Dexter did, which was kind of surprising to Dexter. He brings this youthful, optimistic innocence, that he and his dad are basically Batman and Robin. Think of every time we take out one of these bad guys how many lives we're saving, that this bad person is not going to kill. Dexter never thought of that. Dexter was only taking out bad guys because that was his code."

Dexter: New Blood is a continuation of the original show, which debuted in 2006 and ran until 2013. It features the return of Michael C. Hall as the eponymous serial killer, picking up 10 years after the infamous original ending.

In IGN's review of Dexter: New Blood finale, Matt Fowler praised its "excellent" conclusion, saying that it was full of "necessary, wrenching confrontations."

"This was a terrific way to cap off the series and course-correct the damage done by the previous finale," Fowler wrote.

In that respect, Dexter's do-over appears to have been a success, but Phillips doesn't seem content to let the series rest. As for whether Dexter: New Blood ultimately returns for another season, that's very much up to Showtime.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Clyde Phillips wants Showtime to know that he's extremely available to do more Dexter. With Dexter: New Blood wrapping its run on Showtime yesterday, the showrunner conducted a media blitz with a one major message: He will happily keep the show going if Showtime will have him.

Acknowledging that the decision is "Showtime's call," Phillips told Collider he would "drop everything" to return to the show.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Dexter: New Blood's season finale!

"Well, it is really Showtime's call. And speaking of calls, if they were to call me and say, 'Look, this is a huge asset for Showtime' I think, and I underline the word think, I think Dexter is their number one asset. If they were to call me and say, 'We want to do Harrison. Are you interested?' Much like when they called me to say, 'We want to reboot Dexter, and you're the guy,' I would drop everything to do it," Phillips said.

He had a similar message on Deadline, where he called the show a "huge asset" for Showtime. "When people start bingeing this after the finale, I'm confident the numbers will continue to go up. It’s up to Showtime to make the call to me if they want more. If they ask me if I’d like to make a continuation of this, I would say yes. I have a lot of things going on but I would drop everything for this and say yes in one second."

A second season of Dexter: New Blood would seem tricky owing to the death of the titular character, which Phillips confirms is final ("I have three words for you: Dexter is dead," he said in the Deadline interview). However, Phillips has a pitch ready to go.

"Harrison is such a complicated character and he has within him the seeds of the dark passenger. He’s capable. Look at that takedown of Dexter in the end, what's in Harrison is that he has to kill this man," Phillips explained to Deadline.

"Also, Harrison brings a different perspective to the vigilantism of it all than Dexter did, which was kind of surprising to Dexter. He brings this youthful, optimistic innocence, that he and his dad are basically Batman and Robin. Think of every time we take out one of these bad guys how many lives we're saving, that this bad person is not going to kill. Dexter never thought of that. Dexter was only taking out bad guys because that was his code."

Dexter: New Blood is a continuation of the original show, which debuted in 2006 and ran until 2013. It features the return of Michael C. Hall as the eponymous serial killer, picking up 10 years after the infamous original ending.

In IGN's review of Dexter: New Blood finale, Matt Fowler praised its "excellent" conclusion, saying that it was full of "necessary, wrenching confrontations."

"This was a terrific way to cap off the series and course-correct the damage done by the previous finale," Fowler wrote.

In that respect, Dexter's do-over appears to have been a success, but Phillips doesn't seem content to let the series rest. As for whether Dexter: New Blood ultimately returns for another season, that's very much up to Showtime.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Original director Gareth Evans, Michael Bay, Patrick Hughes, and Netflix are teaming up for a remake of Evan's The Raid, the cult classic Indonesian action film that skyrocketed Evans to directorial acclaim.

Deadline reports Patrick Hughes will direct the remake now set in Philadelphia, while Bay and his XYZ Films will produce. Evans will executive produce and Hughes will co-write the script with James Beaufort.

This new take on The Raid is set in Philadelphia's "Badlands" region, a notorious stretch of North and Lower Northeast Philadelphia afflicted by drug violence.

While Evans' original film followed an elite Indonesian S.W.A.T. team trapped in an apartment block by a murderous crime boss, Hughes' version will follow an undercover DEA agent working his way through cartel informants to find a drug kingpin.

“We’re incredibly excited about Patrick’s unique vision for this film. It’s a distinctly original take on the material, which promises to pay great respect to the original film while also bringing a fresh approach and perspective that will set its own course in the action genre,” the producers said.

The remake of The Raid will be Bay and Hughes' first time working together. Hughes previously directed The Expendables 3, and later on the two Hitman's Bodyguard films starring Ryan Reynolds. Bay is of course known for directing the first five Transformers live-action movies, 1996's The Rock, and 2003's Bad Boys II, among other action classic and not-so-classic films.

The original Raid film debuted in 2011 at the Toronto Film Festival, quickly becoming a cult favorite among action and martial arts movie fans. The film proved enough of a success for Evans to make The Raid 2, released in 2014.

The series sparked a renewed interest in Indonesian martial arts cinema, with a particular focus on the art of Pencak Silat, resulting in the success of other films like Headshot and Netflix's The Night Comes For Us, which stars The Raid/Mortal Kombat's Joe Taslim. The series similarly helped launch the careers of Evans and main star Iko Uwais, who also starred in The Night Comes For Us, as well as Evans' first major film, Merantau.

Longtime fans of Asian cinema are no strangers to western remakes falling short of the original, such as the Ghost in the Shell live-action movie with Scarlett Johansson. That said, Evans previously worked with Netflix to make Apostle, a horror-thriller following a man's attempt to rescue his sister from an island-dwelling religious cult. So it would seem Evans has some faith in the Netflix machine. That said, Hughes' work on The Hitman's (Wife's) Bodyguard is widely regarded as bad-to-mediocre, so only time will tell if the director is capable of more with the backing of Michael Bay and Evans.

Evans is also working with Netflix to direct a similarly crime-driven film starring Tom Hardy, though we haven't heard much about that since early 2021.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/White Boy Bobby for IGN.

Original director Gareth Evans, Michael Bay, Patrick Hughes, and Netflix are teaming up for a remake of Evan's The Raid, the cult classic Indonesian action film that skyrocketed Evans to directorial acclaim.

Deadline reports Patrick Hughes will direct the remake now set in Philadelphia, while Bay and his XYZ Films will produce. Evans will executive produce and Hughes will co-write the script with James Beaufort.

This new take on The Raid is set in Philadelphia's "Badlands" region, a notorious stretch of North and Lower Northeast Philadelphia afflicted by drug violence.

While Evans' original film followed an elite Indonesian S.W.A.T. team trapped in an apartment block by a murderous crime boss, Hughes' version will follow an undercover DEA agent working his way through cartel informants to find a drug kingpin.

“We’re incredibly excited about Patrick’s unique vision for this film. It’s a distinctly original take on the material, which promises to pay great respect to the original film while also bringing a fresh approach and perspective that will set its own course in the action genre,” the producers said.

The remake of The Raid will be Bay and Hughes' first time working together. Hughes previously directed The Expendables 3, and later on the two Hitman's Bodyguard films starring Ryan Reynolds. Bay is of course known for directing the first five Transformers live-action movies, 1996's The Rock, and 2003's Bad Boys II, among other action classic and not-so-classic films.

The original Raid film debuted in 2011 at the Toronto Film Festival, quickly becoming a cult favorite among action and martial arts movie fans. The film proved enough of a success for Evans to make The Raid 2, released in 2014.

The series sparked a renewed interest in Indonesian martial arts cinema, with a particular focus on the art of Pencak Silat, resulting in the success of other films like Headshot and Netflix's The Night Comes For Us, which stars The Raid/Mortal Kombat's Joe Taslim. The series similarly helped launch the careers of Evans and main star Iko Uwais, who also starred in The Night Comes For Us, as well as Evans' first major film, Merantau.

Longtime fans of Asian cinema are no strangers to western remakes falling short of the original, such as the Ghost in the Shell live-action movie with Scarlett Johansson. That said, Evans previously worked with Netflix to make Apostle, a horror-thriller following a man's attempt to rescue his sister from an island-dwelling religious cult. So it would seem Evans has some faith in the Netflix machine. That said, Hughes' work on The Hitman's (Wife's) Bodyguard is widely regarded as bad-to-mediocre, so only time will tell if the director is capable of more with the backing of Michael Bay and Evans.

Evans is also working with Netflix to direct a similarly crime-driven film starring Tom Hardy, though we haven't heard much about that since early 2021.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/White Boy Bobby for IGN.

Long before she took on the role of Fennec Shand, Boba Fett's partner-in-crime in the new Disney+ series Book of Boba Fett, Ming-Na Wen played Chun-Li in Jean-Claude Van Damme's Street Fighter.

That film has since become a cult classic thanks in large part of the comic timing of the late Raul Julia, but it also had an outsized impact on Wen's career, preparing her for roles in genre shows including Agents of SHIELD and Book of Boba Fett.

Speaking with IGN in a new interview, Wen remembers Street Fighter's demanding training schedule, which nearly drove her out of action roles altogether.

"Street Fighter was many, many moons ago and it was one of my first forays into the action film genre, and I remember that it was an incredibly intense schedule of working out, and training, and many, many tough, hard days fighting. And I remember saying to myself, 'I will never want to do another action project again,' Wen says.

Wen has mostly focused on voice-acting since then, her most famous role being Mulan, but her appearances in Agents of SHIELD and now Book of Boba Fett prove that you should "never say never, ever," she says.

"I am so grateful for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, I'm so grateful to be Fennec right now; I'm thankful [Street Fighter] set the groundwork for me, really, in being able to do half the things that I can do now in fighting, and moving, and being able to do this kind of genre. I love it," Wen says.

Book of Boba Fett follows the titular bounty hunter in his quest to take control of the Tatooine underworld in the wake of Jabba the Hutt's demise. It's a spin-off of The Mandalorian, which includes appearances by both Boba Fett and Fennec Shand. In our review of the first episode, we called Wen's performance one of the highlights of an otherwise slow-moving episode.

In the meantime, you can check out the secret history behind Episode 2's cameo, as well as how Boba Fett escaped the Sarlaac Pit.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

Long before she took on the role of Fennec Shand, Boba Fett's partner-in-crime in the new Disney+ series Book of Boba Fett, Ming-Na Wen played Chun-Li in Jean-Claude Van Damme's Street Fighter.

That film has since become a cult classic thanks in large part of the comic timing of the late Raul Julia, but it also had an outsized impact on Wen's career, preparing her for roles in genre shows including Agents of SHIELD and Book of Boba Fett.

Speaking with IGN in a new interview, Wen remembers Street Fighter's demanding training schedule, which nearly drove her out of action roles altogether.

"Street Fighter was many, many moons ago and it was one of my first forays into the action film genre, and I remember that it was an incredibly intense schedule of working out, and training, and many, many tough, hard days fighting. And I remember saying to myself, 'I will never want to do another action project again,' Wen says.

Wen has mostly focused on voice-acting since then, her most famous role being Mulan, but her appearances in Agents of SHIELD and now Book of Boba Fett prove that you should "never say never, ever," she says.

"I am so grateful for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, I'm so grateful to be Fennec right now; I'm thankful [Street Fighter] set the groundwork for me, really, in being able to do half the things that I can do now in fighting, and moving, and being able to do this kind of genre. I love it," Wen says.

Book of Boba Fett follows the titular bounty hunter in his quest to take control of the Tatooine underworld in the wake of Jabba the Hutt's demise. It's a spin-off of The Mandalorian, which includes appearances by both Boba Fett and Fennec Shand. In our review of the first episode, we called Wen's performance one of the highlights of an otherwise slow-moving episode.

In the meantime, you can check out the secret history behind Episode 2's cameo, as well as how Boba Fett escaped the Sarlaac Pit.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

In a new, in-depth interview with The New York Times, Xbox Executive Vice President Phil Spencer was asked about the connection between gaming and the polarization of American politics. To which Spencer said that Xbox is "not a free speech platform" and is designed first and foremost for games and entertainment.

Spencer discussed the idea of political and social radicalization with the New York Times on Kara Swisher's Sway podcast. During the multi-topic chat focused largely on the emergence of the "metaverse" concept, Swisher brought up former Trump administration chief strategist and Breitbart founder Steve Bannon who talked about utilizing Gamergate as a political army.

"We see all positives and negatives of the human condition. We have people who propose to each other and get married on Xbox Live," Spencer says about Xbox's online services. "We also have conversations about politics and other things that happen. One of the things we’ve stated about our social network is we’re not a free speech platform. We’re a platform around interactive entertainment and video games. And we’re not there to allow all kinds of social discourse to happen on our platform. That’s not why we exist."

"We're not there to allow any conversation to happen on our platform," Spencer says, and more than that Xbox Live is simply not designed for that kind of politicization. "It's very difficult to come to Xbox Live and say, Okay, I want to go create a political party on the platform.'"

"You could kind of twist the tools and try to get there, but it’s just not set up for general-purpose conversations or community," Spencer says but, "It’s really set up for community around interactive entertainment and the games that run on our platform. And that’s the way we invest."

In 2017 Bannon specifically cited Gamergate, a harassment campaign against women and progressive figures in the video game industry, and said "You can activate that army. They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump."

Swisher referenced social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, driven by ad revenue and other murky monetization models, that are regarded as poorly moderated platforms for hate speech and other types of harassment, and asked Spencer if he thought game companies moderated their communities more effectively.

"I think we all have a long way to go. You could tell me that’s a lame answer. That’s all right," Spencer said.

Spencer later added that he loves the modern video game business model for its "transparency." Simply put, if a customer likes what Xbox or another video game studio is doing, they purchase the product, continue subscribing, or invest in some other aspect of the platform.

"That’s very different if I have a passive business model that maybe my customer doesn’t even understand," Spencer said. "And I think some [of] the pure ad-driven platforms that are out there, they get themselves stuck in this model. Because some of the most tumultuous topics that they can put out there are the things that drive the most clicks.

It's a relatively firm political statement for the chief of a multi-billion dollar video game industry giant. Spencer previously commented on the allegations of harassment and sexual discrimination at Activision-Blizzard, makers of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, saying that Xbox was "evaluating all aspects" of their relationship with the studio.

The full podcast is worth a listen as Spencer touches on Activision, as well as regulations on games, and Netflix's arrival into the games industry as well.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

In a new, in-depth interview with The New York Times, Xbox Executive Vice President Phil Spencer was asked about the connection between gaming and the polarization of American politics. To which Spencer said that Xbox is "not a free speech platform" and is designed first and foremost for games and entertainment.

Spencer discussed the idea of political and social radicalization with the New York Times on Kara Swisher's Sway podcast. During the multi-topic chat focused largely on the emergence of the "metaverse" concept, Swisher brought up former Trump administration chief strategist and Breitbart founder Steve Bannon who talked about utilizing Gamergate as a political army.

"We see all positives and negatives of the human condition. We have people who propose to each other and get married on Xbox Live," Spencer says about Xbox's online services. "We also have conversations about politics and other things that happen. One of the things we’ve stated about our social network is we’re not a free speech platform. We’re a platform around interactive entertainment and video games. And we’re not there to allow all kinds of social discourse to happen on our platform. That’s not why we exist."

"We're not there to allow any conversation to happen on our platform," Spencer says, and more than that Xbox Live is simply not designed for that kind of politicization. "It's very difficult to come to Xbox Live and say, Okay, I want to go create a political party on the platform.'"

"You could kind of twist the tools and try to get there, but it’s just not set up for general-purpose conversations or community," Spencer says but, "It’s really set up for community around interactive entertainment and the games that run on our platform. And that’s the way we invest."

In 2017 Bannon specifically cited Gamergate, a harassment campaign against women and progressive figures in the video game industry, and said "You can activate that army. They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump."

Swisher referenced social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, driven by ad revenue and other murky monetization models, that are regarded as poorly moderated platforms for hate speech and other types of harassment, and asked Spencer if he thought game companies moderated their communities more effectively.

"I think we all have a long way to go. You could tell me that’s a lame answer. That’s all right," Spencer said.

Spencer later added that he loves the modern video game business model for its "transparency." Simply put, if a customer likes what Xbox or another video game studio is doing, they purchase the product, continue subscribing, or invest in some other aspect of the platform.

"That’s very different if I have a passive business model that maybe my customer doesn’t even understand," Spencer said. "And I think some [of] the pure ad-driven platforms that are out there, they get themselves stuck in this model. Because some of the most tumultuous topics that they can put out there are the things that drive the most clicks.

It's a relatively firm political statement for the chief of a multi-billion dollar video game industry giant. Spencer previously commented on the allegations of harassment and sexual discrimination at Activision-Blizzard, makers of World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, saying that Xbox was "evaluating all aspects" of their relationship with the studio.

The full podcast is worth a listen as Spencer touches on Activision, as well as regulations on games, and Netflix's arrival into the games industry as well.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Production on The Bob's Burgers Movie has been relatively quiet since mid-2021, but we finally have some plot details that shed light on what the Belcher family and their humble restaurant will get up to.

In the "musical-comedy-mystery-adventure" film, a ruptured water main opens up a giant sinkhole in front of the titular restaurant, blocking the entrance and ruining summer plans for the Belchers, according to 20th Century Fox's official synopsis. Bob and wife Linda Belcher will be busy keeping the business afloat while the kids work on solving a mystery that could save the family business.

"As the dangers mount, these underdogs help each other find hope and fight to get back behind the counter, where they belong," the synopsis reads.

The Bob's Burgers Movie stars the original series cast, including Kristen Schall and H. Jon Benjamin, along with new and returning guest stars like comedian Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Ashley Nicole Black (Full Frontal, A Black Lady Sketch Show), Tim Meadows (SNL, The Goldbergs) and Ron Funches (Harley Quinn's King Shark).

Bob's Burgers is an animated sitcom following the Belcher family who run a burger restaurant somewhere in the American Northeast. The family consists of father bob, mother Linda, and three kids Tina, Gene, and Louise. The series is currently on its 12th season.

As of June last year, show creator and executive producer Loren Bouchard said no firm release date beyond 2022 had been established, but he did confirm a theatrical release. He also revealed a short, titled "My Butt Has a Fever," may accompany the film.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/powerful force for IGN.