Xbox has named Maria Angelidou-Smith as Mojang’s new CEO. She replaces Kayleen Walters, a change Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced as Microsoft reworks its games business. It comes as Microsoft pushes Minecraft harder as a franchise.
Sharma announced the move during a broader games restructuring that has included 3,200 layoffs and a series of leadership changes. Angelidou-Smith’s background makes the choice easy to read. She spent 2014 to 2022 at Meta, working across monetization, Facebook Groups, and Facebook Dating, then moved to Reddit as chief product officer in November 2024. Communities, technology, creators, and monetization at scale: that lines up neatly with Microsoft’s current priorities.
Walters, meanwhile, is taking over the XP division, where she’ll lead film, TV, licensing, merchandise, and adaptations. That fits too, given her Lucasfilm background, her move to Mojang in February 2025, the growth to 250 licensees, and her producer credit on A Minecraft Movie.
If you follow Minecraft, this shift is worth watching. A Minecraft Movie has already brought in more than $550 million, and a sequel is planned for 2027. Minecraft World is set to open at Chessington in 2027. Moonlight Trail opened in Buenos Aires in May 2026. Xbox is also expanding its slate of game-based series after Fallout, with Diablo and Call of Duty projects reportedly in the works. The bigger question is what all of this means for players, creators, developers, and for Mojang’s identity in Stockholm.
You can play Minecraft on Xbox, PC, mobile, and consoles.
Author: Emmanuel Bosque
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