Xbox Names Kayleen Walters President of New XP Division

On Oct. 8, Xbox announced the creation of a new entertainment division called XP and named Kayleen Walters, formerly President of Mojang, as its president. Maria Angelidou-Smith will take over as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft on Monday, Oct. 19, reporting to Asha Sharma.

XP will organize its work into four investment areas: Xbox Pictures for film and television adaptations, Xbox Products for licensing and merchandise, Xbox Partnerships for sponsors and brand collaborators, and Xbox Places for live events, immersive experiences, theme parks, and location-based attractions. Xbox said the division will help its franchises reach people beyond gameplay by focusing on film, television, consumer products, partnerships, and live experiences.

Kayleen Walters brings a long track record in franchise-based entertainment. She spent 13 years at Lucasfilm working on Star Wars films, merchandise, and partnerships. At Mojang, she helped grow the consumer-products business into a multibillion-dollar operation with more than 250 licensees, and she served as Executive Producer of A Minecraft Movie while also producing its sequel, Minecraft Squared.

In an internal note, she said XP’s foundation rests on the belief that beloved gaming franchises can reach people far beyond the game itself, noting that fans watch, wear, attend, celebrate, and connect with franchises in many ways.

Maria Angelidou-Smith brings a background in large-scale consumer technology. Before joining Xbox, she led Facebook Groups that served over 1.8 billion monthly users at Meta. She later headed product and technology at Personio. She served as Chief Product Officer at Reddit, where she oversaw products used by billions of people and guided product and engineering teams through significant growth and change.

Matthew Ball, Xbox Chief Strategy Officer, stated that XP supports the goal of making Xbox the number one entertainment company in the world. He added that the division combines existing capabilities across Xbox teams to help franchises reach more people, build deeper connections with players and new fans, and create new growth opportunities for fan communities worldwide.

Asha Sharma, head of Xbox creator experience, described Minecraft as one of the largest entertainment communities. She said the search for its next leader focused on someone who has built products for massive audiences, possesses deep technical expertise, and understands how creators, product, technology, and monetization work together.

At a town hall, Sharma told employees she had discussed the four Cs and the choices they are making to apply them. She shared the leadership appointments that support the Creator and Connection pillars.

Xbox reported that Fallout titles on Xbox Game Pass recorded a five-fold increase in hours played during Fallout Season One on Prime Video. As of April 30, 2026, Minecraft’s weekly active users rose by more than 75% year-over-year after the release of A Minecraft Movie.

A Minecraft sequel, titled Minecraft Squared, is currently in production. Walters, who served as Executive Producer of A Minecraft Movie, is also a producer of the sequel. The increase in Minecraft’s weekly active users followed the release of A Minecraft Movie, for which she served as Executive Producer.

Other upcoming Xbox-related entertainment projects include a Fallout TV series with Prime Video, with Season 3 confirmed, and a forthcoming Call of Duty film with Peter Berg and Taylor Sheridan. Netflix announced a Diablo animated series at BlizzCon, and a new project with Hideo Kojima titled Physint will cover film and television rights. An Xbox-IKEA partnership for a Minecraft-themed theme park will launch in 2027.

Blizzard’s BlizzCon 2026 drew 35,000 attendees on site and 12.5 million viewers online, while the most recent Minecraft Live event reached over 144 million people. Gears of War recently partnered with WWE for a crossover event.