Xbox XP Division Launches, and Minecraft Gets a New CEO on October 19

Xbox has created a new division called XP to run films, TV, merchandise, sponsorships and live events for its game franchises, and it has hired a new CEO for Minecraft. In an internal memo published on Xbox Wire on October 8, Xbox said Kayleen Walters will move from Mojang to become President of XP, while Maria Angelidou-Smith joins as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft.

Nothing changes for players today: no game, price or Game Pass plan is touched. But Minecraft is the biggest franchise Xbox owns, and the leadership of both the game and its business side has just changed.

What is the Xbox XP division?

The name is a play on "experience points". According to Xbox, XP covers how people engage with its franchises beyond playing the games themselves. It pulls together capabilities that already existed across Xbox teams and will work with studio creative teams and outside partners, with the games described as staying at the centre.

XP has four areas of investment:

• Xbox Pictures: film and TV adaptations of franchise worlds and characters.
• Xbox Products: licensing and merchandise.
• Xbox Partnerships: sponsors, creators and brand partners.
• Xbox Places: broadcast and in-person events, theme parks and location-based experiences.

The announcement names no specific film, show, product or park, and gives no dates or prices. It is a structure announcement, not a slate.

Who is Kayleen Walters, and why does she get XP?

Walters spent 13 years at Lucasfilm working on Star Wars films, products and partnerships before moving to Mojang. At Minecraft she helped grow consumer products into a business Xbox describes as multibillion-dollar, with more than 250 licensees. She was also executive producer of A Minecraft Movie and is a producer on its sequel.

That track record is the pitch: XP is essentially the Minecraft licensing-and-film playbook applied to every Xbox franchise. The memo does not list which franchises come first.

Who is the new Minecraft CEO?

Maria Angelidou-Smith starts as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft on Monday, October 19, 2026. She spent nearly a decade at Meta, where she led Facebook Groups, Events, Creators, Search, Profile and Monetization. She later led product and technology at Personio and served as Chief Product Officer at Reddit.

Her background is in community and creator products rather than game development, which fits the memo's stated priorities of "Creator" and "Connection". Xbox says her first priority is learning from the Minecraft teams and communities, and that Mojang already has a strong game development team, which the search for its next leader took into account. Both appointees report to the memo's author.

What does this mean for Minecraft players?

Nothing immediate. Xbox has not announced any Minecraft gameplay, pricing or platform change alongside the appointments, and a leadership change by itself says little about the roadmap. If you play on handheld hardware, the most recent Minecraft platform news we covered is the Minecraft Switch 2 closed beta. On phones, our list of free Android games like Minecraft covers the alternatives.

Anything beyond that, such as new Minecraft merchandise tie-ins or an XP-led series for another franchise, is speculation until Xbox says so. Xbox has not confirmed any.

What else did Xbox announce on October 8?

The same day, Xbox published its latest Free Play Days list. For the Game Pass side of the business, see our breakdown of the October Game Pass wave, including Battlefield 6, and the recent Xbox Free Play Days roundup for how those weekend trials work.