YouTube Names Google Play Executive As New Gaming Head

  • Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL YouTube anointed Leo Olebe as the new head of its gaming unit after an eight-month vacancy for the position, Bloomberg reports citing a company email.
  • Olebe has held executive roles in Google Play's games partnerships division and a similar position at Meta Platforms Inc META Facebook.
  • Olebe replaced Ryan Wyatt, who left for crypto startup Polygon Studios earlier this year. 
  • Olebe is also a board member of Games for Change, a nonprofit organization that facilitates real-world social change through games and the gaming community. 
  • Before Facebook, Olebe held positions at Electronic Arts Inc EA and Zynga. 
  • YouTube is the most popular website for gaming videos clocking over 90 million hours of gaming live streaming in the first half of 2021.
  • The report added that YouTube received over 800 billion views related to gaming.
  • On October 17, Comcast Corp's CMCSA Spectator division reportedly decided to shut down its video game-centric television and online network G4 after mass layoffs after failing to gain traction.
  • On October 14, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc TTWO shared its plans to shut down the New York-based studio behind the popular mobile game Dots, eliminating 65 jobs.
  • In August, Facebook shared plans to close down its Facebook Gaming app after failing to gain a foothold in the live game streaming market.
  • Price Action: GOOG shares traded higher by 0.64% at $100.93 in the premarket on the last check Thursday.
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