Eyeing More ‘Minecrafts’ And ‘Fallouts’, Microsoft Xbox Launches XP Unit To Take Properties Beyond Video Games

Microsoft Xbox, hoping to replicate the success of franchises like Minecraft and Fallout, is launching a new division called XP designed to extend properties beyond video games.

The XP name is described as a play on “experience points.” It has four main components: Xbox Pictures for film and TV adaptations; Xbox Products for licensing and merchandise; Xbox Partnerships for sponsors and brand partners; and Xbox Places for broadcast and in-person events.

“Our franchises can mean more to people than the time they spend playing them,” CEO Asha Sharma explained to employees in a staff memo Thursday.

Expanding properties beyond video games then creates a virtuous cycle, Xbox says. Fallout titles on Xbox Game Pass saw a 5x increase in hours played during Fallout‘s first season on Prime Video. Minecraft saw over a 75% increase in weekly active users of the game year-over-year since the movie’s release in the spring of 2025.

Hollywood, meanwhile, has finally found its groove with adapting games into films and series. Sony revived Resident Evil last month and HBO drew big viewership and critical praise with The Last of Us, just to name a couple of recent success stories.

The XP news comes after Xbox has initiated a self-described “reset” with multiple rounds of layoffs and restructured its studio businesses to adapt to a changing operating environment in the games sector. In 2023, Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $23 billion at a moment when mobile and casual gaming was starting to upend the traditional console business.

Kayleen Walters, a former Lucasfilm executive, has been named president of XP. She is expected to build a team at the division from staffer both internal and external. Maria Angelidou-Smith is joining Xbox as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft after nearly a decade at Meta.

After spending 13 years at Lucasfilm working on Star Wars, Walters helped grow Xbox’s consumer products arm into a mult-billion-dollar business with more than 250 licenses. She was an executive producer of A Minecraft Movie, and is a full producer on its sequel, which is currently in production.

“Fans don’t just play our franchises,” Walters wrote to employees in an email to her team. “They watch them, wear them, attend them, celebrate them, and connect with them in countless ways.”