Xbox XP division: film, TV, merch and a new Mojang CEO
The Xbox XP division puts film, TV, merch and events under Kayleen Walters, and ex-Reddit CPO Maria Angelidou-Smith becomes Mojang CEO on October 19.
Source-based. Written from the documents, reporting and reviews linked in the text. Nothing here was tested hands-on by The Ruling Desk. How we work
Xbox has created XP, a new division for everything around its games that isn't a game: film and TV, merchandise, live events and brand deals. The Xbox XP division is led by Kayleen Walters, who ran Mojang, and Mojang gets a new CEO, former Reddit chief product officer Maria Angelidou-Smith, who starts on Monday, October 19.
Key takeaways
- XP has four arms: Xbox Pictures (film and TV), Xbox Products (licensing and merchandise), Xbox Places (events, broadcasts, theme parks) and Xbox Partnerships (sponsors, brands and creators).
- Kayleen Walters, an executive producer on A Minecraft Movie, moves from Mojang to become President of XP. Maria Angelidou-Smith takes over as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft. Both report to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
- Xbox's own case for it: Fallout hours on Game Pass rose five times during the first season of the Fallout show, and Minecraft weekly players rose more than 75% after the movie. Those are Xbox's numbers, as GamesBeat reported them, and Xbox hasn't published the data behind them.
- XP arrives in the middle of Sharma's reset, which plans about 3,200 Xbox job cuts by the end of June 2027.
What the Xbox XP division does
Sharma announced XP on October 8 in an email to Xbox staff. She wrote that the name is a play on "Experience Points" and that XP "formalizes four investment areas." A companion Xbox Wire post signed by Matthew Ball adds that XP pulls together teams that already existed across Xbox, rather than starting from scratch. Here is what each arm covers, in Xbox's words, condensed:
| Arm | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Xbox Pictures | Film, TV and other linear storytelling based on Xbox games |
| Xbox Products | Licensing and merchandise "authentic to the fandom" |
| Xbox Places | Live events, broadcasts, attractions, theme parks and other location-based experiences |
| Xbox Partnerships | Sponsors, brand partners, and projects with creators and communities |
XP doesn't make games. Ball writes that "great games remain at the center of these franchises" and that XP will work with Xbox's studios and outside partners. Sharma's line for the idea: "Our franchises can mean more to people than the time they spend playing them."
Who leads XP, and the new Mojang CEO
Kayleen Walters, President of XP. Sharma's email says Walters spent 13 years at Lucasfilm working on Star Wars films, products and partnerships. At Minecraft she helped grow consumer products into "a multibillion-dollar business with more than 250 licensees" and was an executive producer of A Minecraft Movie. She's also a producer of the sequel, which Game Developer names as Minecraft Squared. Ball's post credits her time at Mojang with Minecraft going from 350 million copies sold to more than 425 million.
Maria Angelidou-Smith, CEO of Mojang and Minecraft. She spent nearly a decade at Meta, where she led Facebook Groups and teams for Events, Creators, Search, Profile and Monetization, according to Sharma. She later led product and technology at the HR software company Personio and was Reddit's chief product officer. Sharma says her first priority is "learning from the teams and communities who know Minecraft best," and that she starts on October 19.
Note the title change: Walters was Mojang's president, while Angelidou-Smith gets the title CEO of Mojang and Minecraft. Sharma also wrote that Mojang wanted someone who understands "how creators, product, technology, and monetization come together." If you're a Minecraft player, that line is worth keeping in mind as the new CEO settles in, though nothing about the game itself has been announced. The game's next big update is still The Sift, coming to Minecraft in 2027.
Why Xbox is betting on movies, shows and merch
Xbox's argument is that adaptations bring people back to the games. GamesBeat reported two figures from Xbox:
- Fallout: hours played of Fallout games on Game Pass rose five times during the first season of the Fallout series on Prime Video.
- Minecraft: weekly active users rose more than 75% year over year after A Minecraft Movie's release, as of April 30, 2026.
Both are Xbox's claims. Xbox hasn't said what the baselines were, and neither figure appears in the two Xbox Wire posts. Sharma's email also calls A Minecraft Movie "the biggest film in the U.S. last year and a top-five release worldwide."
GamesBeat lists the projects XP inherits, among them Fallout Season 3 at Prime Video, a planned Call of Duty movie, a Diablo animated series with Netflix and a Minecraft theme park at Chessington due in 2027. Ball's post also shows a Gears of War tie-in with WWE.
How XP fits the 3,200 Xbox job cuts
The Xbox XP division arrives in the middle of a shrink. In her July 6 memo, "Resetting XBOX", Sharma announced about 3,200 job cuts across Microsoft's fiscal 2027, which ends on June 30, 2027, with about 1,600 that day. A September 22 memo from content chief Matt Booty, "Continuing Our Reset", cut 268 more roles. We covered where that leaves the company in our piece on Sharma saying Xbox is not for sale.
Xbox hasn't said whether XP adds jobs or only regroups existing teams. Ball's wording, capabilities that "have existed across various teams at XBOX for years," suggests mostly the latter, but that's our reading, not Xbox's statement. GamesBeat also recalls Xbox Entertainment Studios, which Microsoft created in 2012 and which ended in layoffs.
What happens next
- October 19: Maria Angelidou-Smith starts as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft.
- Through June 30, 2027: the rest of the roughly 3,200 cuts in Sharma's plan.
- 2027: the Minecraft theme park at Chessington, per GamesBeat.
The rest of Xbox's week was about games on more screens: Battlefield 6 joining Game Pass in October and Forza Horizon 6's PS5 release date.
Bottom line
XP gives Xbox's film, TV, merchandise, events and brand deals one owner, Kayleen Walters, and Mojang gets a new CEO from Meta and Reddit on October 19. Xbox's case rests on its own Fallout and Minecraft numbers, which it hasn't published in full. Nothing changes in Minecraft or Game Pass today; watch what Angelidou-Smith says once she starts, and whether XP's first new projects are announced before the cuts finish in June 2027.
FAQ
What is XP at Xbox?
XP is a new Xbox division for franchises beyond the games: film and TV (Xbox Pictures), merchandise (Xbox Products), events and theme parks (Xbox Places) and brand deals (Xbox Partnerships). Xbox announced it on October 8, 2026, and says the name plays on "Experience Points."
Who is the new CEO of Mojang?
Maria Angelidou-Smith, a former chief product officer at Reddit who spent nearly a decade at Meta, becomes CEO of Mojang and Minecraft on October 19, 2026. She replaces Kayleen Walters, who moves to lead XP.
Does XP make Xbox games?
No. Xbox says games stay at the center and XP works with Xbox's studios and outside partners on film, TV, products, events and partnerships around those games.