YouTube Appoints Games Industry Expert Leo Olebe, New Gaming Head

Leo Olebe, a Google executive with over 20 years of experience in the gaming industry, will take on a new position as YouTube's global head of gaming, overseeing all gaming-related partnerships and content, including livestreaming.

Olebe most recently served as managing director of Google Play's games partnerships team, where he and his staff partnered with international game publishers and developers to help them create experiences for Google Play.

Later in 2022, Olebe will begin serving as YouTube's global head of gaming. A Google representative explained that he will answer to Tara Walpert Levy, YouTube's VP of Americas, who is in charge of content partnerships.

Since Ryan Wyatt, the previous head of gaming at YouTube, departed the company in January after seven years to become CEO of cryptocurrency company Polygon Technology, the position has remained vacant.

Gaming is still a major source of YouTube traffic: With the pandemic-driven spike in video games slowing down, YouTube Gaming Live generated a total of 1.13 billion hours of watched content in the second quarter of 2022, a 13% decline from the same period last year.

Olebe was at Facebook for more than five years as the senior global director of games partnerships before joining Google in May 2021. Over the course of his career, he has helped launch AAA mobile, PC, console, and online games, established new platforms and provided advice to startups and developers in the industry.

Olebe has worked at organisations including BioWare, EA, Disney, Warner Bros., Sierra Online (now a part of Activision Blizzard), Zynga, and Kabam on projects involving well-known trademarks like Star Wars, Marvel, Disney Princess, and the Matrix. He serves as a board trustee at Occidental College as well as a board director for the Games for Change organisation.