Xbox announced two leadership appointments on October 8, 2026 in an internal memo sent to employees globally and shared on Xbox Wire. Maria Angelidou-Smith will join Xbox as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft, starting Monday, October 19. Kayleen Walters will move from her role at Mojang to lead a new Xbox division.
Angelidou-Smith brings community platform experience to Mojang
Angelidou-Smith spent nearly a decade at Meta, where she led Facebook Groups, used by more than 1.8 billion people each month, as well as Events, Creators, Search, Profile, and Monetization. After Meta, she led product and technology at Personio and was Chief Product Officer at Reddit, another of the world’s largest community platforms. She has built products used by billions of people and led product and engineering organizations through significant growth and change. Xbox said she brings deep experience to Mojang, along with a respect for what makes Minecraft special, and that it sought someone who has built products for communities at enormous scale, who has a strong technical background, and who understands how creators, product, technology, and monetization come together.
Minecraft community was central to the search
Xbox described Minecraft as one of the largest communities in entertainment, with hundreds of millions of people who play, build, create, teach, watch, mod, run servers, and build businesses around Minecraft. The memo said the community helps shape what the product becomes, and that was central to the search for a new leader. Xbox leadership also noted Mojang already has an exceptional game development team that knows Minecraft and its players, and that Angelidou-Smith’s first priority will be learning from the teams and communities who know Minecraft best.
Kayleen Walters moves to lead new XP division
Kayleen Walters will leave Mojang to lead the new Xbox XP division, which will focus on how people experience Xbox franchises beyond the games themselves. Walters spent 13 years at Lucasfilm helping guide Star Wars across films, products, and partnerships before joining Xbox. The memo said Walters’ move gave Xbox time to think carefully about what Mojang needs in its next leader. It added that both Maria Angelidou-Smith and Kayleen Walters will report to Xbox leadership.
