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Xbox creates XP division for film, TV, products and live experiences under Kayleen Walters

Xbox has formed a new division, XP, to take its game franchises into film and TV, consumer products, partnerships and live events. Mojang president Kayleen Walters will lead it, and Maria Angelidou-Smith becomes Mojang CEO.

4 outlets · 3L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: The Hollywood Reporter
Image: Deadline
Image: Variety
Image: The Verge

1 / 4

The story, neutrally told

Left · 2Xbox has launched a new division called XP, short for "Experience Points", to handle its film and television adaptations, consumer products, partnerships and live experiences. Left · 2Kayleen Walters, currently president of Minecraft studio Mojang, will become XP's president. Left · 2Walters spent 13 years at Lucasfilm and was executive producer of A Minecraft Movie.

Left · 2Maria Angelidou-Smith, who is leaving her job as Reddit's chief product officer and previously spent nearly a decade at Meta, will become CEO of Mojang and Minecraft, starting Monday, October 19. Left · 2XP formalizes four investment areas: Xbox Pictures (film and TV), Xbox Products (licensing and merchandise), Xbox Partnerships (sponsors, creators and brand partners) and Xbox Places (live events, broadcasts, theme parks and other location-based experiences). Left · 2The Verge reports that different Xbox teams already do this work and it will now sit under one centralized division; Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball described it as bringing together capabilities that have existed across teams for years.

Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter says XP is not a production company but a division meant to match Xbox IP with production companies. Left · 3Projects already in development include a sequel to A Minecraft Movie, a third season of Prime Video's Fallout, a Call of Duty film, a Diablo animated series for Netflix, and film and TV rights for Hideo Kojima's Physint; a Minecraft theme park is also planned. Left · 2The announcement follows a broader overhaul under Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over in February; The Verge and The Hollywood Reporter note layoffs and studio closures or sales, and The Verge adds that Microsoft's earlier Xbox Entertainment Studios, set up in 2012, was shut down two years later.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left3 outlets

Framing
Trade and tech outlets treat it as a straightforward corporate announcement, built on Sharma's and Ball's memos, with the Hollywood angle (adaptations, Minecraft's success) most prominent.
Emphasis
The XP structure, Walters' Hollywood credentials, Mojang succession and the slate of adaptations; The Verge and THR add context on Sharma's restructuring.
Leaves out or plays down
Variety omits the layoffs and studio closures noted by The Verge and THR; none quotes outside analysts or critics.
Charged language
“going (even more) Hollywood”“sweeping layoffs”
For example
“Asha Sharma’s Xbox is going (even more) Hollywood.” — The Hollywood Reporter
“Xbox is focused on expanding its entertainment business beyond the capabilities of a traditional Hollywood studio into off-screen entertainment.” — Variety
“Since taking over in February, Sharma has enacted sweeping layoffs, sold off studios” — The Verge

Centre1 outlet

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.