Xbox CEO unveils 'new Xbox division' for game-adjacent ventures named 'XP'
Xbox is doubling down on its more IP-centric strategy with a division dedicated to expanding those properties outside of games.
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In an announcement this morning , Xbox has unveiled a division named XP, which oversees and manages the various non-video game aspects of Xbox properties. The XP name functions as wordplay, as the division brings together four pillars of Xbox management, each acronymizing to "XP."
Xbox Pictures, a film and TV investment and management area
Xbox Products, that promises to create products "authentic to the fandom."
Xbox Places, which focuses on live events, broadcasts, and experiences
Xbox Partnerships, a creator-focused initiative that works with sponsorships and collaborations
XP is also parlance for "Experience Points" or simply "Experience," a common resource in video games, which fits the live-events heading of this division well ("live experiences"), furthering the wordplay.
The division will be led by Kayleen Walters, current president of Minecraft developer Mojang and executive producer of A Minecraft Movie . Walters has been at Microsoft for nearly a decade, working on Minecraft for her entire tenure, but has a background in film with previous marketing work at Lucasfilm, MGM, and Universal.
Replacing Walters at Mojang will be Maria Angelidou-Smith, former chief product officer at Reddit. Both Walters and Angelidou-Smith will, under this new structure, report directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
XP seems built to handle the various new extracurricular activities for the Xbox brand as it expands into leveraging its properties more concertedly, with ventures such as Minecraft Squared —the sequel to A Minecraft Movie —as a major upcoming event, working with Amazon on the Fallout TV series, the recently-announced Diablo animated series, and physical events like Blizzcon and Minecraft Live.
The announcement arrives under the shadow of recent layoffs, dubbed part of the Xbox "reset" initiative , which saw thousands of jobs lost from the Xbox division, multiple studio divestments , and studios shedding jobs as they face closure .
As part of that reset, CEO Asha Sharma and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty laid out a a new structure for priorities that puts major franchises front and center and extending transmedia plans for properties like Minecraft . Today's announcement seems to be keeping in line with that strategy.
