Yuga Labs, the creator of the Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, announced on Monday the appointment of Activision Blizzard President and COO Daniel Alegre as its new CEO.
Alegre joined Activision in early 2020 and oversaw the development of games like World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. He has also spent over 16 years in various leadership roles at Google.
“Daniel has held one of the highest-level roles at one of the largest gaming companies in the world. He brings valuable experience across entertainment, e-commerce, and global strategic partnerships – all of which are critical aspects of an immersive web3 world built by creators and for creators,” said Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow.
Alegre, who is set to start in the first half of 2023, will replace Yuga Lab’s first and current CEO Nicole Muniz to help the Miami-based company achieve its Metaverse ambition through blockchain gaming and community building. Meanwhile, Muniz will stay on as a partner and strategic advisor to the company.
“The company’s pipeline of products, partnerships, and IP represents a massive opportunity to define the metaverse in a way that empowers creators and provides users with true ownership of their identity and digital assets. I look forward to working with the passionate, creative team at Yuga,” stated Alegre.
The primary focus for Alegre will be on the Otherside project, which the company describes as a gamified interoperable metaverse. He will also adorn Mutant Ape Yacht Club #3850 as his new Twitter profile picture.
The news comes at a time when Activision’s ownership is up in the air. Two weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) filed a lawsuit to stop Microsoft from acquiring Activision in a potential $69 billion deal announced in January, claiming it would hurt competition.
