Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra, who stepped down again in January, has a brand new job: CEO of PrizePicks, a every day fantasy sports activities firm.
In 2021, Ybarra was appointed co-head of Blizzard alongside Jen Oneal. The pair changed J Allen Brack, who resigned following the California civil rights lawsuit. A couple of months later, Oneal introduced that she was leaving Blizzard, and Ybarra grew to become the studio’s sole head till this 12 months, when he unexpectedly give up shortly after the Microsoft acquisition went by means of. Former Name of Responsibility basic supervisor Johanna Faries is now Blizzard president.
Ybarra introduced his resignation on the identical time that Microsoft laid off virtually 2,000 of its gaming workers, together with a whole workforce at Blizzard that had been making a survival sport. He supplied little rationalization, saying solely that it was “time” for him to go. In accordance with reporter Jason Schreier, Ybarra had beforehand mentioned that they’d must “drag” him away from Blizzard.
Ybarra’s new job does not give us any apparent clues about what actually occurred between him and Blizzard and Microsoft. His outdated job is just briefly talked about within the press launch, and he generically feedback that “PrizePicks is probably the most thrilling firm in sports activities leisure right now.”
Ybarra’s leap from PC video games to every day fantasy sports activities is suggestive, although. Current videogame business improvements like loot bins, battle passes, every day quests, and rotating store choices definitely really feel like they’d be at house within the every day fantasy and playing worlds, and the concepts alternate certainly goes each methods.
Every day fantasy sports activities emerged within the 2010s attributable to what’s arguably a loophole in US regulation: Bans on sports activities betting do not essentially bar fantasy sports activities leagues with money prizes—they’re thought of video games of talent—and there is no rule that the leagues must final all season. In apps like DraftKings and PrizePicks, gamers pay to enter contests through which they choose rosters of athletes competing that day, successful money prizes if their picks carry out properly. Probability is after all a a lot higher issue when choosing gamers every day, versus managing a fantasy workforce throughout a complete season.
A associated improvement is the rise of cellular gaming platforms, akin to Skillz, that provide money prizes for immediately competing in small-scale gaming competitions. (Skillz calls them “informal cellular gaming tournaments,” however for those who’re placing cash down on solitaire, I might argue that you simply’re not likely an off-the-cuff solitaire participant.)
