High-profile industry veterans are quitting their posts in gaming to join Yuga Labs and build the Bored Apes metaverse Otherside. Mike Seavers is Yuga Labs’ latest recruit, leaving Epic Games to take on the role of CTO on May 22.
Seavers joins former President of Activision/Blizzard (Word of Warcraft) Daniel Alegre. In December Algere similarly quit his high-profile gaming position to become CEO of Yuga Labs.
Yuga Labs bolsters metaverse team
Yuga Labs continues to strengthen itself in key positions, poaching major talents from the gaming industry. Mike Seavers is the latest to big name to join the Bored Apes team. Seavers has two decades of experience as a technology and product leader.
Seavers leaves his position as Executive Vice President of Development at Epic Games. In a press release issued on Friday, Seavers expressed excitement about the new role
“There have been rare moments over my career where I felt like a new technology was creating a true paradigm shift for the world,” said Seavers. “I recognize that web3 is one of those moments, and I am absolutely thrilled to join Yuga Labs to help usher in a new era of the internet that impacts the world for the better.”
According to some industry critics and commentators the gaming industry is currently closest to realizing the potential of the metaverse. Online games including Epic Games’ Fortnite and Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft have even been touted as the real metaverse. This explains why Yuga Labs is seeking out gaming professionals such as Seavers and Alegre.
Seavers certainly matches this requirement. Previously the gaming chief led the development teams behind Fortnite, Unreal Engine, and the Epic Games Store. Prior to working at Epic Games, Seavers cut his teeth as the CTO of Riot Games, supporting popular online titles including League of Legends, Valorant, and Legends of Runeterra.
Now Seavers will be tasked with channeling that wealth of experience into the Bored Apes community.
So Yuga Labs brought on the former President of Blizzard Daniel Alegre to become their CEO
Today they hired Mike Seavers, a former EVP of development at Epic Games who lead the development teams that created their most successful products
Normies will say it’s just a jpeg tho pic.twitter.com/bu2DClaWIF
— fetty (@0xfetty) April 28, 2023
Dreaming big
Yuga Labs is not afraid to dream big under the stewardship of former Activision man Daniel Alegre. The company foresees that with the right talent, it can play an important role in the future of Web 3, community engagement, and the metaverse.
“Mike has a proven track record of taking organizations to the next level, and he shares our vision for how important digital identity and community will be for the future of the internet,” said Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs. “We have an opportunity to be the web3 platform at the forefront of community and social engagement, through media and entertainment, and Mike’s expertise will help us scale to achieve that.”
Besides recruiting top people Yuga Labs has considerable funds to make its aspirations a reality. The company has a considerable war chest after a highly-successful funding round last year.
Printing Money
In March of 2022, Yuga Labs raised $450 million in a funding round that valued the company at $4 billion. The company has also recorded billions of dollars in NFT sales further boosting its bank balance.
In February the company launched a new series of ‘Sewar Pass’ NFTs that recorded $70 million in sales in under 30 days.
With a long list of celebrity partnerships and endorsements, a talented workforce, and a seeming ability to print money, it would seem foolish to bet against Yuga Labs fulfilling their metaverse ambitions.
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