Xbox expands movie, TV ambitions with new division
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The new division, called XP, will grow Xbox’s footprint in film, TV, products, events and theme parks.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Xbox has created XP, a new division to expand its game franchises into film, TV, products, events and theme parks.
- Kayleen Walters will lead XP, while Maria Angelidou-Smith becomes head of Mojang; Microsoft is pushing Minecraft and Fallout into more media.
- The move follows success for the Minecraft movie and Fallout TV show, but gaming and screen crossovers still have mixed results.
AI generated
NEW YORK – Microsoft’s Xbox unit is formalising its film and TV foray with a new division focused on expanding the video-game giant’s franchises into other media.
The entertainment division called XP will grow Xbox’s footprint in film, TV, products, events and theme parks, Microsoft said in a statement on Oct 8.
“Fans don’t just play our franchises. They watch them, wear them, attend them, celebrate them and connect with them in countless ways,” Kayleen Walters, the group’s new president, wrote in an e-mail to her new team, Microsoft said.
Walters, who was president of Microsoft’s Minecraft unit Mojang, previously worked at Star Wars steward Lucasfilm for 13 years, including as a vice-president of franchise marketing. She was an executive producer on the Minecraft movie, which set box office records and earned US$157 million (S$201 million) its first weekend. Its sequel is in production.
Microsoft also on Oct 8 named a new head for Mojang. Maria Angelidou-Smith, who previously worked for social media platform Reddit and tech company Meta Platforms, will become the unit’s chief executive in October. A Minecraft theme park is set to open in London in 2027.
Although not a social network like those two companies, Minecraft does let people express themselves, crafting items in the game. Tens of millions of people play Minecraft every day. It has sold more than 300 million copies.
Microsoft’s ambitions in entertainment remain strong, after mass layoffs and studio spin-outs to sharpen the focus of its gaming arm. Xbox’s Fallout TV show (2024 to present) has seen major success. Amazon.com’s Prime Video, where the show airs, reported that 100 million people watched at least a little of the series, which was just renewed for a third season.
In the pipeline are an animated Netflix series inspired by the gothic Diablo games, a Call Of Duty movie and Physint, a project with celebrity game-maker Hideo Kojima that includes film and TV rights.
The new XP division will centralise efforts around such ventures but is not itself a production company.
Gaming companies have seen mixed success enticing fans of TV shows into the completely distinct video-game medium.
On its Game Pass subscription service, Xbox’s Fallout titles saw a five-fold increase in hours played as the first season of the show aired. In the year after the Minecraft movie released, the game saw a 75% increase in weekly active users. Meanwhile, Riot Games’ US$250 million Netflix show Arcane failed to convert many new players to the League Of Legends (2009) game on which it is based. BLOOMBERG