Xbox’s Reset and Minecraft: Mojang’s New CEO and Why It Reports to the Xbox Boss

The short version: On July 6, 2026, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced a “reset”: about 3,200 jobs cut through fiscal 2027 (around 1,600 immediately), five studios divested, and Mojang and King (Candy Crush) moved to report directly to her. Reports said Minecraft’s profits had long helped fund the rest of Xbox’s games and that Sharma wants to reinvest in Minecraft to compete with Roblox. Mojang was not spared from the layoffs.

• Jul 62026, Xbox “reset” announced
• 3,200Xbox roles cut through FY27
• DirectMojang now reports straight to the Xbox CEO

What actually changed

• Mojang and King report to Sharma. She described the two studios as having become platforms and as Xbox’s largest by monthly active players.
• Helen Chiang, a former corporate vice president of the Minecraft franchise, became Xbox COO, overseeing profit and loss across content, platform, hardware and services (she left in October; see below).
• Cuts across Xbox: Sharma said the business was “not healthy” and that Microsoft’s games division had spread itself too thin.

“Massively underinvested”

According to Game File, Sharma believes Microsoft has massively underinvested in Minecraft. About six years ago, Minecraft and Roblox were roughly level in size, and Roblox has pulled ahead since. Bloomberg separately reported that Minecraft’s profits had for years helped fund other Xbox Game Studios projects. Microsoft has not given numbers or confirmed specific plans.

October update: Mojang gets a new CEO

On October 8, 2026, Sharma named Maria Angelidou-Smith, previously Reddit’s chief product officer, as CEO of Mojang. She started on October 19 and reports directly to Sharma. She spent close to ten years at Meta working with creators and monetization before roles at Personio and Reddit. That background worried some players. Sharma said her first priority is learning from the teams and communities who know Minecraft best.

• Kayleen Walters, Mojang’s previous head, moved to lead Xbox XP, a new division covering film and TV, merchandise and live events such as theme parks.
• Helen Chiang, the former Minecraft head who became Xbox COO in July, left Microsoft in October after about three months in the role.

What it could mean for players

Nothing concrete has been announced, so treat these as possibilities rather than promises:

• More money and staff for updates, after two years of smaller, more frequent game drops.
• A stronger push into social and creator features, the areas where Roblox leads.
• More spin-offs and media. Dungeons II and the Sift dimension had already shown Mojang building a wider universe.

The flip side: closer oversight from a CEO focused on growth may also mean more monetization and Marketplace pushes, which Java players tend to watch warily.