Xbox creates XP division to turn franchises into films and parks

Xbox XP is the Microsoft gaming division responsible for everything Xbox does outside of games. The name is a nod to “experience points,” the rewards you earn for leveling up in a game. Different Xbox teams already handled some of this work. XP pulls it all into one unit with four arms:

• Xbox Pictures makes film, TV and other story-driven adaptations.
• Xbox Products runs licensing and merchandise, from clothes to toys.
• Xbox Places covers live events, broadcasts, attractions and theme park experiences.
• Xbox Partnerships works with creators and brands on sponsorships and new projects.

Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball set out the ambition plainly: “Our ambition at Xbox is to be the number one entertainment company in the world.” He also stressed that great games remain at the heart of each franchise.

The new president is Kayleen Walters, picked by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. She spent 13 years at Lucasfilm, rising to vice president of franchise marketing for Star Wars and Indiana Jones. At Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft, she helped build Xbox’s consumer products arm into a business worth billions with more than 250 licenses. She was an executive producer on A Minecraft Movie and is a producer on its sequel.

Her move left a gap at the top of Mojang. Maria Angelidou-Smith, who was chief product officer at Reddit after nearly a decade at Meta, is the new CEO of Mojang and Minecraft. She started on October 19.

Walters already has a track record with the biggest of these bets. A Minecraft Movie opened to $163 million in the US in its first weekend, the best start ever for a film based on a video game, and the sequel was confirmed less than a year later. She is expected to build the XP team from both inside and outside Xbox.

One industry analyst said hiring someone with a film background was the key decision, because not every game will translate to a screen and someone has to pick the right ones.

XP inherits a busy slate. Projects already in development include:

• A Minecraft Movie Squared, the sequel, due in theaters on July 23, 2027.
• Fallout season 3, the next run of the live-action series on Prime Video.
• A Call of Duty film.
• A Gears of War film.
• An animated Diablo series for Netflix.

There is also a real-world attraction on the way for UK fans. Minecraft World, the first official Minecraft theme park, is set to open at Chessington World of Adventures in Greater London in 2027.

The timing is not an accident. Xbox has had a rough year: falling revenue, several rounds of layoffs, studios sold off and a major restructuring that Sharma calls a “reset” since she took over in February. More than 3,200 jobs are being cut through fiscal year 2027.

Adaptations offer a way to make more money from games Microsoft already owns, including the huge library it got by buying Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023. Xbox’s own numbers show the effect works in both directions. Hours played on Fallout games through Game Pass rose fivefold while the first season of the TV show aired, and Minecraft’s weekly players jumped after the film.

Hollywood has also warmed to games. HBO’s The Last of Us drew big audiences and strong reviews, and Sony brought Resident Evil back to the big screen in September.

This is not Microsoft’s first try. It set up Xbox Entertainment Studios in 2012 to make shows from its games, then closed it two years later.

For players, the honest answer is that XP should not change the games themselves much, and Xbox insists games stay at the center. What changes is everything around them: more shows to stream, more merchandise, and more events and attractions tied to the worlds you already know.

It may also mean a steadier flow of new fans into older games, as happened with Fallout when the show aired. The risk is that Xbox spreads itself thin while it is still cutting staff. The analyst warned that some brands will not connect with people outside gaming, so choosing carefully matters.

Walters summed up the thinking in a note to her team: fans don’t just play the franchises, they watch them, wear them and attend them.