Updated October 23rd, 2019.
Mike Ybarra is now Blizzard Entertainment’s Executive Vice President and General Manager.
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
Orignal story below:
Mike Ybarra, the now ex-Vice President at Xbox and Mixer, took to Twitter today and has announced his departure following 20 years with Microsoft.
After 20 years at Microsoft, it’s time for my next adventure. It’s been a great ride at Xbox and the future is bright. Thanks to everyone at TeamXbox, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished and I wish you the best. More soon on what’s next for me (super excited)! 1/2…
— Mike Ybarra 🎄 (@Qwik) October 9, 2019
Originally getting his start at Hewlett-Packard as a hardware engineer, Mike made the jump to Microsoft as a Program Manager in 1999. Since then he has had many roles at the company, including becoming General Manager for Windows 7 in 2006 and Xbox Live in 2009.
After that, he became the Partner Studio Manager for Xbox Studios where he was instrumental in overseeing the development of AAA games such as Gears of War and Sunset Overdrive. Finally moving over to the Corporate Vice Present of Xbox and served in that role since 2017. It’s not farfetched to say that without Mike Ybarra being involved, the Xbox landscape may have looked quite different.
While Mike hasn’t said where he’s headed to next, he did mention that it will still keep him in the gaming industry. So, Mike, wherever you end up next, we wish you nothing but the best. Good luck out there.
This follows the departure of Sony’s Shawn Layden from the PlayStation brand.
