YouTube’s head of gaming leaves to join Polygon Studios as CEO

Ryan Wyatt, who served as YouTube’s Head of Gaming for seven years, is leaving next month to become CEO of Polygon Studios. 

Polygon Studios is the gaming and NFT arm of Polygon, an Ethereum scaling project. In his new role, Wyatt will lead Polygon Studios across gaming, entertainment, fashion, news and sports and grow the developer ecosystem through investment, marketing and support, he wrote in a tweet. 

Wyatt started his career as an e-sports commentator before becoming Vice President of Programming at Major League Gaming (now owned by Activision Blizzard). 

Wyatt’s move Polygon Studio could hint at the company’s plans to bolster its blockchain-based gaming initiative. Polygon Studio’s partners already include blockchain-based gaming figures such as Animoca Brands, a metaverse startup valued at over $5 billion spearheading the Bored Ape Yacht Club video game. 

Interest in blockchain-based gaming grew in the latter half of 2021, as The Block’s Data Dashboard shows. While the NFT game Axie Infinity dominated the market, other contenders have popped up such as RPG-inspired DeFi Kingdoms and sports management game Sorare.