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.
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/kZ8dRuF3peOctober 24, 2019
As the tweet reports, Ybarra will join the company on November 4 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.
Ybarra joined Microsoft in 2000 before eventually being promoted to general manager of Xbox Live in 2009. He became corporate vice president of gaming in 2017. His arrival at Blizzard comes after a series of departures from the company, including Mike Morhaime back in January.
