Kayleen Walters

So, yeah, it's a new division.

It's been spearheaded by Kayleen Walters, who some people may know as the president of Minecraft previously.

Now over to this new division, but they also worked with Lucasfilm for about a decade.

So for somebody getting into media and media products, not the worst shout.

Here's a summary on that to catch you up to speed.

Xbox XP, led by Kayleen Walters, is a new division focused on expanding Xbox franchises beyond video games into film and television, merchandise, live events, attractions, and partnerships with creators and brands.

Walters previously worked at Lucasfilm for 13 years and helped grow Minecraft's consumer product business.

The division could create new opportunities for Minecraft experiences, including potential live events, although a Minecon revival has not been confirmed.

Xbox does say it wants to be the number one entertainment company in the world, which is very, it's a very Xbox ambition, I have to say.

Kayleen Walters has been named the president of XP.

She was doing a similar thing before, but actually she was also president of Mojang and has been a bit of a moving around of people there.

So it's not a massive story really, but it sort of shows how important that division has become to Xbox.

That opportunity is why we are creating XP.

As Asha Sharma shared in her email this morning, XP is a new Xbox division led by a newly appointed president, uh, Kayleen Walters, uh, spanning film and television, consumer products, strategic partnerships, and live experiences.

It brings together, uh, capab- capabilities that have existed across various teams at Xbox for years and aligns them behind a shared mission, helping our franchises reach more people, creating deeper connections with players and new fans, and unlock opportunities for these fandoms to grow around the world.

Great games remain at the center of these franchises and at the heart of Xbox.

On October 8th, Asha Sharma released a blog post on Microsoft's own Xbox Wire called The New Leadership Appointments in Xbox Division.

In this blog, she announces that former CEO of Mojang and Minecraft Studios, Kayleen Walters, will be replaced by Maria Angela De Smith.

Maria Angela D. Smith, according to Sharma, quote, Maria brings a rare combination of those experiences.

She spent nearly a decade at Meta, where she led Facebook groups used by more than 1.8 billion people each month, as well as events, creators, search, profile, and monetization.