Lead: Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced XP, a new division for film, television, consumer products, partnerships, and live experiences, with former Mojang president Kayleen Walters as XP president and Maria Angelidou-Smith named Mojang and Minecraft CEO.
What happened
On Thursday, October 8, 2026, Xbox published an internal note from CEO Asha Sharma on Xbox Wire confirming two leadership moves and a new org chart for entertainment beyond games. Kayleen Walters is leaving the president role at Mojang to become president of XP. Maria Angelidou-Smith will join Xbox as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft, starting Monday, October 19. Both report to Sharma.
XP is a play on “experience points.” Sharma wrote that the unit formalizes four investment areas: Xbox Pictures for film and television adaptations; Xbox Products for licensing and merchandise; Xbox Partnerships for sponsors and brand partners; and Xbox Places for broadcasts, in-person events, theme parks, and other location-based experiences.
Walters’ résumé is the through-line Xbox is selling. Before Mojang, she spent 13 years at Lucasfilm on Star Wars film, products, and partnerships. At Minecraft she helped grow consumer products into a multibillion-dollar business with more than 250 licensees and served as executive producer of A Minecraft Movie, which Sharma called the biggest U.S. film last year and a top-five release worldwide. She is also a producer on the sequel. Variety and Polygon independently reported the same structure and franchise list, citing Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball’s staff memo that XP consolidates capabilities that already existed across Xbox teams.
Angelidou-Smith arrives from Meta, Personio, and Reddit. Sharma highlighted nearly a decade at Meta leading Facebook Groups used by more than 1.8 billion people a month, plus later product and technology leadership at Personio and a chief product officer stint at Reddit. Her stated first job is learning from Mojang’s teams and Minecraft communities rather than announcing an immediate product overhaul.
Variety’s write-up lists franchise examples under Walters’ XP mandate, including Minecraft, Call of Duty, Fallout, Warcraft, Gears of War, Candy Crush, Diablo, Forza, The Elder Scrolls, and Halo—signaling that XP is not a Minecraft-only shop even though Walters’ recent wins are Minecraft-shaped.
Why it matters
Xbox is making explicit what the last few years already implied: game IP is also a film, merch, and destination business. A Minecraft Movie’s box office, Amazon’s Fallout, announced Diablo animation, a Call of Duty film track at Paramount, and Minecraft theme-park plans all sit more cleanly under one president than under scattered studio and licensing teams.
For players, the near-term change is leadership at Mojang, not a sudden change to Survival or Marketplace rules. For Hollywood and brand partners, XP is a clearer front door. Naming Pictures, Products, Partnerships, and Places also mirrors how modern franchise houses talk—closer to Lucasfilm-style portfolio management than to a pure first-party games org.
The appointment timing also matters politically inside Xbox. Sharma’s tenure has been defined by restructuring; XP is a building announcement rather than another closure. Whether that translates into more greenlit adaptations—or simply cleaner ownership of deals already in flight—will show up in 2027 project news more than in this memo.
What we know vs what is rumored
- Confirmed: XP launches with Walters as president; Angelidou-Smith becomes Mojang and Minecraft CEO on October 19; both report to Sharma (Xbox Wire primary source).
- Confirmed: Four XP pillars—Pictures, Products, Partnerships, Places—as defined in Sharma’s note and Ball’s memo summarized by Variety and Polygon.
- Confirmed: Walters’ Minecraft consumer-products and A Minecraft Movie producer credits are part of Xbox’s public rationale.
- Unconfirmed: Specific new film or series greenlights tied to the XP launch day itself; Variety and Polygon recap existing projects (Minecraft sequel, Fallout Season 3, Call of Duty film, Diablo animated series) rather than brand-new titles announced solely because XP exists.
- Unconfirmed: How XP will share credit or control with external studios and streamers already holding Xbox IP deals.
What happens next
Angelidou-Smith starts October 19, and Sharma said she will be in Stockholm to walk through the Mojang transition in person. Watch for XP-branded announcements around Minecraft parks and sequels, Call of Duty and Diablo screen projects, and live events that used to sit in separate Xbox or Blizzard lanes. Until a first XP-stamped slate drop arrives, treat Thursday’s news as an org and mandate lock—not a new trailer.
Sources: Xbox Wire — New Leadership Appointments and XBOX Division; Variety — Xbox Sets New Division for Film and TV, Consumer Products and Experiences Led by Minecraft Studio Chief Kayleen Walters; Polygon — Xbox XP officially announced as Microsoft goes all in on movies and TV