Xbox puts Lucasfilm veteran Kayleen Walters over a new unit for franchise spinoffs

XP is set up like a business line. It has four divisions: Xbox Pictures handles film and television, Xbox Products covers licensing and merchandise, Xbox Partnerships looks after sponsors and brand partners, and Xbox Places takes in broadcasts, live events, theme parks and other experiences tied to a physical site ^[6]. Together they cover the ways a game franchise makes money outside the game. GamesIndustry.biz describes XP as a business unit dedicated to transmedia brand extensions ^[1]. Its report does not say whether the unit has its own profit and loss, revenue targets or headcount.

The appointment takes one executive's approach and applies it across Xbox. Walters has about 21 years in franchise roles ^[19]. She spent 13 of them at Lucasfilm, where she rose to vice president of franchise marketing and integrated planning ^[2], and eight overseeing franchise development at Microsoft ^[3]. When Microsoft signed its 2024 deal with Merlin Entertainments for Minecraft attractions ^[7], Walters described the split of roles. "We are everywhere digitally, Merlin is everywhere physically," she said. "It's about how do we expand Minecraft beyond the game." ^[8] In my view, XP takes that approach from one brand and applies it to the whole portfolio.

The cost lands at Mojang. Walters became head of the studio in February ^[4], so her move to XP means the top job at Minecraft's developer has changed hands twice since then ^[21]. Xbox chose to put its franchise specialist over every brand extension, and the studio takes the disruption. Sharma explained the choice of the new president in product terms. "We wanted someone who has built products for communities at enormous scale, who is deeply technical, and who understands how creators, product, technology, and monetization come together," she said ^[13]. Angelidou-Smith takes over a studio whose Minecraft World park now sits under XP ^[1].

XP's projects run on other companies' platforms and, in Merlin's case, on other companies' capital. Merlin is investing more than $110 million in two Minecraft-themed attractions ^[7]. The Halo series ran for two seasons on Paramount+ before it was cancelled in 2024 ^[15]. A Gears of War film is in development at Netflix ^[16]. The unit's main levers are which partners it picks and what brand terms it holds them to. Sharma's email to Xbox employees described the job as work done with the industry, saying the franchises "mean more to people than the time they spend playing them, and Kayleen knows how to build those experiences with the industry without losing what made people care about the franchise in the first place." ^[12]

Rob Fahey, a contributing editor at GamesIndustry.biz, has questioned where the reset is heading. "Nobody has yet deigned to outline a clear vision for what Xbox will actually look like after this reset," he said ^[17]. XP answers part of that. It sets out what Xbox wants its franchises to do away from the console, and it gives that work a named owner.

Xbox is making the structural decision this quarter, but the results will not be visible until 2027. Minecraft World is due to open at Chessington World of Adventures that year ^[10], and the Minecraft film sequel is set for July 23, 2027 ^[18]. Both were announced before XP was ^[20].