20-year Microsoft vet Mike Ybarra has moved to Blizzard Entertainment.
On Twitter (below), the former CVP of Xbox Live, Game Pass and Mixer said he would be joining the World of Warcraft and Overwatch maker as executive vice president and general manager on Monday, November 4th. This follows Ybarra's departure from Microsoft, which was announced earlier in the month.
I'm very happy to announce I'm joining @Blizzard_Ent as Exec. Vice President and GM starting 11/4 (will be at #blizzcon!). We will work with all our energy to serve gamers with incredible content and experiences. I can't wait to be part of this team. #lucky #humble #gamers #serve pic.twitter.com/kZ8dRuF3pe
— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) October 24, 2019
"We will work with all our energy to serve gamers with incredible content and experiences," he said.
"I can't wait to be part of this team."
He also said that he would be at Blizzcon - which will likely be something of a trial by fire for the new executive given Blizzard's last few weeks. The company has come under fire from its community, its own employees and even a bipartisan group of US politicians including Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who slammed Blizzard's decision to ban Hearthstone esports player Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai for having a pro-Hong Kong stance in a post-game interview.
Blizzard has denied that the decision had anything to do with its ties to China. Local tech and entertainment giant Tencent owns in the region of five per cent of Activision Blizzard while its publisher in the region is fellow giant corporation NetEase.
