Xbox Launches New XP Division to Turn Its Games Into Movies, Theme Parks, and More, With Kayleen Walters in Charge
Xbox has created a new division called XP, dedicated to turning its game franchises into movies, television, merchandise, theme parks, and live events. Announced on October 8, the division formalizes a strategy Xbox has already been building piece by piece, and puts industry veteran Kayleen Walters in charge of pulling it all together under one roof.
Four Pillars, One Mission
XP, a play on “experience points,” splits its mandate into four named pillars: Xbox Pictures for film, television, and other linear storytelling, Xbox Products for fan-facing merchandise, Xbox Places for live events, attractions, and location-based experiences, and Xbox Partnerships for brand collaborations and sponsorships. Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball announced the launch, tying it to an ambition CEO Asha Sharma had floated earlier this year: making Xbox “the number one entertainment company in the world,” not just a console and games business.
Jason Momoa promoting A Minecraft Movie, one of the franchises now cited as a model for Xbox’s new XP division.
From Mojang to the Corner Office
Leading XP is Kayleen Walters, who steps down as president of Mojang Studios to take the new role. Before joining Microsoft, she spent 13 years at Lucasfilm working on the Star Wars franchise, and at Mojang she served as an executive producer on A Minecraft Movie, the 2025 film that set the box office record for the biggest opening weekend of any video game adaptation and finished number one domestically. A sequel, A Minecraft Movie Squared, is already set for a July 2027 release with Jack Black and Jason Momoa returning. Minecraft itself has sold more than 425 million copies since its 2011 release, the kind of scale Xbox wants XP to replicate across its other franchises.
“Kayleen knows how to build those experiences with the industry.”
Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO
Replacing Walters at Mojang is Maria Angelidou-Smith, formerly chief product officer at Reddit, who takes over as the studio’s CEO and steers Minecraft going forward. Both Walters and Angelidou-Smith report directly to Sharma.
A Pattern Already in Motion
XP isn’t starting from zero. Hideo Kojima’s stealth game Physint, picked up by Xbox after Sony dropped it, reportedly came with a deal that extends into film and television as well as games, fitting squarely into the new division’s remit. The push into Hollywood also lands at a time when Xbox’s gaming side has absorbed repeated rounds of layoffs and studio closures, and just a day earlier, rival publisher Skydance folded Warner Bros. Games and Paramount Games Studio into a single unit of its own, a sign that publishers across the industry are leaning harder on franchises that can live well beyond the console.
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Picture Source: Xbox
