Former Xbox vice president Mike Ybarra is joining Blizzard next month. He announced the news on Twitter, only weeks after it emerged that he would leave Microsoft after nearly 20 years with the company.
In a statement on Twitter, Ybarra said only that he will start in the new role on 4 November, and confirmed that he will be attending the company’s annual fan convention, Blizzcon.
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
As the tweet reports, Ybarra will join the company on 4 November as executive vice president and general manager. He’ll do so at an awkward time for Blizzard: the company has been awash in all sorts of controversy over the last 12 months, ranging an ill-received Diablo phone game, through to its treatment of Hearthstone Grandmaster Blitzchung following his on-stream pro-Hong Kong protests. That said, all evidence points to next month’s Blizzcon being a big one.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what Ybarra brings to the table in seemingly troubling times for the video company. Earlier this year, Blizzard announced that its developer workforce would be increased by 20% in 2019. However, this change would come at the cost of employees in other divisions, 800 of whom have been or will be sacked this year.
