Microsoft’s Xbox has announced that Maria Angelidou-Smith will officially become CEO of Mojang Studios on October 19, 2026, overseeing Minecraft and its development team. Her background isn’t the traditional game development route—she spent nearly a decade at Meta, working on Facebook Groups, events, creator features, and monetization, before later serving as Chief Product Officer at Reddit. This hiring has also drawn attention to whether Xbox is planning to rethink the future of this classic sandbox game from the perspectives of community management, product growth, and commercialization.
Former Leader Moves to Entertainment as Xbox Creates XP Division to Expand IPs
This leadership change is also tied to Xbox’s organizational restructuring. Mojang’s previous leader, Kayleen Walters, will become president of the newly created XP division, responsible for expanding Xbox’s game franchises beyond gaming, including films, TV, merchandise, live events, and brand partnerships. Walters previously spent 13 years at Lucasfilm, working on Star Wars entertainment and merchandise; during her time at Mojang, she also helped expand Minecraft’s licensed merchandise business and served as executive producer on the Minecraft film. With the game-to-film adaptation proving successful, Xbox clearly no longer views its titles merely as games—it wants to build its well-known IPs into complete entertainment brands.
Will There Be More Monetization of the Game Itself?
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma stated that Mojang already has an excellent development team familiar with Minecraft and its player community, which is why the company wants the new CEO to bring experience in scaled community products, technology, and monetization. This background might help improve Minecraft’s community features and player experience, but it inevitably raises concerns among some players about commercialization direction—especially since Minecraft has long attracted players with its free-form creativity and open gameplay. If the future brings more focus on retention and revenue, maintaining the game’s original character will be a major challenge. Xbox hasn’t announced what specific game changes the new leadership will bring. Angelidou-Smith’s first priority upon taking office will be understanding the game’s core values from the development team and player community.