Xbox launches XP division to push its games into film, events and merch
Xbox has created a new division called XP to take its games beyond the console and into films, products, live events and brand deals.
The division was detailed on 8 October 2026 under Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma. It will be overseen by Kayleen Walters and covers four investment areas: pictures, products, places and partnerships.
Walters is a Lucasfilm veteran and former president of Mojang Studios, the maker of Minecraft. She also served as an executive producer on A Minecraft Movie.
Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball said that under Walters, Minecraft grew from 350 million units sold to more than 425 million. He said its merchandising business became one of the top 20 globally, and that A Minecraft Movie had the biggest opening weekend for a video game adaptation and finished No. 1 at the domestic box office. GameSpot
Xbox Pictures will handle film and television projects and other linear storytelling using Xbox IP, its characters and game worlds. Xbox Products will make products tied to those fan communities. Xbox Places will organise live events, immersive experiences, attractions and broadcasts. Xbox Partnerships will work with creators, brands and communities on new experiences, sponsorships and brand tie-ups.
Several projects are already in the pipeline. A sequel to A Minecraft Movie is in development. A third season of the Fallout television series is in development. A Call of Duty film is in development.
Blizzard announced at BlizzCon 2026 that a Diablo animated series is coming to Netflix. The anime series Death Stranding: Isolations is announced for exclusive streaming on Disney+ in 2027. A Minecraft theme park is scheduled to open in 2027. Xbox’s deal with Hideo Kojima also covers potential television shows and films as well as games.
Ball said Xbox aims to be the number-one entertainment company in the world. It is not the first attempt. Xbox Entertainment Studios was unveiled in 2012 to produce television shows airing directly on Xbox consoles, and was shut down two years later.
The launch comes with pressure on the console business. Circana reported that Xbox hardware unit sales in the United States fell 31% in August 2026 compared with August 2025, the lowest level since August 2020. Wider US hardware spending was US$302 million in August 2026, down 3% year on year. GameSpot
Sharma has described Xbox as having been at an “all time low” before returning to growth after a reset involving mass layoffs and studio closures. She reportedly told a staff town hall that Xbox has “started to return to growth”, and has separately denied that the division will be sold, stating “Xbox is not for sale.”
What makes this stand out is how familiar it sounds. Ball said XP brings together capabilities that have existed across various teams at Xbox for years. One early analysis argued the announcement is a fancy new name with nothing clearly different yet. GameSpot
For fans, this means more Xbox stories off the console. The test will be what gets released, and when.
