YouTube Names Leo Olebe New Head of Gaming

Google exec Leo Olebe, who has labored within the video games business for over 20 years, will transfer into a brand new position as world head of gaming at YouTube, the unit that encompasses gaming-related content material and partnerships, together with livestreaming.

Olebe most lately was managing director for the video games partnerships workforce for Google Play, the place he and his workforce labored with video games builders and publishers worldwide to assist them construct experiences on Google Play.

Olebe will begin within the position of world head of gaming at YouTube later in 2022. He’ll report back to Tara Walpert Levy, YouTube’s VP of Americas, who oversees content material partnerships, a Google rep mentioned. The position has been vacant ever since YouTube’s earlier head of gaming, Ryan Wyatt, left in January after seven years to hitch crypto agency Polygon Know-how as CEO.

Gaming continues to be an enormous visitors driver for YouTube: Within the second quarter of 2022, YouTube Gaming Stay generated a cumulative 1.13 billion hours of content material watched, though that was a 13% lower from year-earlier because the pandemic-fueled surge in video video games cooled off.

Previous to becoming a member of Google in Could 2021, Olebe spent greater than 5 years at Fb as senior world director of video games partnerships. Over his profession, he has labored on from launching AAA cell, PC, console and on-line video games, constructed new platforms and suggested builders and startups within the business.

Olebe has labored on tasks with main manufacturers like Star Wars, Marvel, Disney Princess and the Matrix at corporations together with BioWare, EA, Disney, Warner Bros., Sierra On-line (now a part of Activision Blizzard), Zynga and Kabam. He’s a board director for the Video games for Change group and is a board trustee at Occidental Faculty.