The division will be led by former Mojang president Kayleen Walters, who will be replaced by Reddit's Maria Angelidou-Smith

Xbox has announced a new XP business unit, dedicated to transmedia brand extensions, including the Fallout TV series and the Minecraft World theme park.

The new enterprise will be led by Kayleen Walters, the current president of Minecraft developer Mojang Studios, who previously spent eight years overseeing franchise development at Microsoft. Before joining Microsoft, she spent 13 years at Lucasfilm, rising to become vice president of franchise marketing and integrated planning.

Walters was appointed as head of Mojang Studios in February, replacing outgoing head Åsa Bredin, who stepped down to "focus on personal goals outside of work." Walters will be replaced as president of Mojang by Maria Angelidou-Smith, who joins the Xbox division from Reddit, where she was chief product officer. Previously, she spent nearly a decade at Facebook.

The XP division will focus on four areas: Xbox Pictures for film and television adaptations, Xbox Products for licensing and merchandise, Xbox Partnerships for sponsors and brand partners, and Xbox Places for broadcast and in-person events, theme parks, and other location-based experiences.

In an email sent to Xbox employees this morning, Xbox head Asha Sharma said that the firm's franchises "mean more to people than the time they spend playing them, and Kayleen knows how to build those experiences with the industry without losing what made people care about the franchise in the first place."

On Angelidou-Smith's appointment, Sharma said: "We wanted someone who has built products for communities at enormous scale, who is deeply technical, and who understands how creators, product, technology, and monetization come together.

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