// PC GAMER — GAMING
As it lays off developers and closes studios, Xbox gets into the movie business
Asha Sharma's latest big move is all about bringing "franchises" to the world in ways that don't involve games.
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More big news out of Xbox today: A new division called Xbox XP will take the lead on "film and television, consumer products, strategic partnerships, and live experiences," with a focus "on how people experience our franchises beyond the games themselves."
As detailed on today's announcement, here's what that breaks down to:
Xbox XP will be headed by Kayleen Walters, who previously spent a couple years as president of Minecraft studio Mojang and before that spent close to a decade in different brand and "franchise development" roles at Microsoft. Prior to that she spent 13 years at Lucasfilm, finishing her time there as vice president of franchise marketing and integrated planning.
"XP is a play on 'experience points'," Xbox CEO Asha Sharma helpfully explained in a separate internal email, "and formalizes four investment areas for us: Xbox Pictures for film and television adaptations; Xbox Products for licensing and merchandise; Xbox Partnerships for sponsors and brand partners; and Xbox Places for our marquee broadcast and in-person events, theme parks, and other location-based experiences.
"Our franchises can 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."
Well, what to make of this, eh? It sounds ambitious, superficially at least, although what it adds up to in practice remains to be seen: It's possible that Xbox XP represents more of a reshuffling of pre-existing departments and efforts already in the works, with a new executive atop the org chart to put some extra punch in the announcement.
But it comes while Xbox is in the midst of laying off thousands of people who make the actual games that serve as the foundation of these franchises. Make of that what you will, but for myself, kicking off a whole new (and very expensive-sounding) Xbox division while Ninja Theory is bleeding out on the floor is not a great look. It also stands in rather sharp contrast to what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called the "streamlining" of Xbox. This is streamlining?
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