Mojang Studios, the creator of Minecraft, got a new CEO on October 19, 2026. The position was taken over by Maria Angelidou-Smith, who previously worked as Chief Product Officer at Reddit and spent nearly a decade in leadership roles at Meta. Xbox announced the change in a statement published on Xbox Wire on October 8, 2026, and the decision is part of a broader reorganization of Microsoft's entire gaming division structure.

Who is Mojang Studios' new CEO

Angelidou-Smith spent nearly ten years at Meta, where she was responsible for, among other things, Facebook Groups, used by more than 1.8 billion monthly active users. At the company, she also managed areas including events, creators, search, profiles and monetization. She later moved to Personio, where she oversaw product and technology, and her last stop before Mojang was Reddit, where she served as Chief Product Officer.

In its statement, Xbox emphasized that it was looking for someone who "has built products for communities at massive scale and has a strong technical background." That's a clear signal that Microsoft now treats Minecraft not just as a game, but as a social platform comparable to Reddit or Facebook Groups, with millions of players, creators, server moderators and teachers using Minecraft Education.

What changes for Kayleen Walters

The previous Mojang CEO, Kayleen Walters, isn't leaving the company. She's moving into the role of president of the newly created Xbox XP division, which will develop Xbox brands beyond games themselves. Walters previously spent 13 years at Lucasfilm, managing the Star Wars brand across films, products and partnerships, and at Mojang she grew the consumer products business tied to Minecraft to a multi-billion-dollar scale, with more than 250 licensees. She was also an executive producer of "A Minecraft Movie," the biggest American box office release of the past year, and is now working on its sequel.

The new XP division focuses on four areas: Xbox Pictures (film and TV), Xbox Products (licensing and merchandising), Xbox Partnerships (sponsors and brands), and Xbox Places (events and attractions, such as the planned Minecraft hotel at Chessington World of Adventures in London). Xbox wrote in its statement that its franchises "can mean more to people than just the time they spend playing them."

Minecraft as a platform, not just a game

The decision to put someone with experience managing large online communities, rather than game production, in charge of Mojang drew considerable attention in trade media. Minecraft has for years gone beyond the classic video game model: it has an extensive Marketplace where creators earn money from add-ons, Realms as a server service, Minecraft Education for schools, and a huge modding community built around Java and Bedrock. Xbox pointed to exactly this diversity in justifying the choice: players, creators, educators, modders, server operators and entrepreneurs building businesses around the game.

Angelidou-Smith said her first priority would be "learning from the teams and communities who know Minecraft best." That's a cautious, wait-and-see stance, typical of new leaders joining an organization with a strong creative culture shaped over the years, as Mojang's has been since the days of Notch and Jens Bergensten.

A broader restructuring of Xbox

The leadership change at Mojang isn't an isolated event. Since July 2026, Xbox has been going through what Xbox president Asha Sharma called "the most significant restructuring" in the brand's history, involving a reduction of about 3,200 positions in fiscal year 2027 and the sale or spin-off of several studios, including Double Fine Productions, Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs. As part of this overhaul, Mojang and King (the creator of Candy Crush) now report directly to Sharma, rather than through intermediate management structures, which was meant to underline the status of both studios as Xbox's most valuable assets in terms of monthly active users.

Microsoft assured that publicly announced first-party projects, including future Minecraft updates and the development of Minecraft Dungeons II, will not be canceled, though investment will be shifted toward priorities with the highest growth potential. For Polish players, whether using Minecraft Java Edition or Bedrock Edition, the change at the top of Mojang doesn't mean any direct consequences for the game itself for now, but it sets a new direction for managing the entire brand in the coming years.

What's next for the new leadership

So far, Microsoft hasn't announced any specific changes to Minecraft's product strategy resulting from the new leadership. Angelidou-Smith is only just beginning her tenure, and industry commentators will be watching whether her experience managing social platforms translates into changes in how Mojang communicates with the community of players, creators and server operators gathered around Minecraft servers.

Sources