Gaming giant Activision Blizzard has made a big executive hire. The Call of Duty company announced that it has hired former Major League Baseball executive Tony Petitti to become the new president of sports and entertainment at Activision Blizzard, starting August 17.

Petitti will oversee esports and consumer products for Activision Blizzard, as well as film and TV. Petitti was previously the deputy commissioner and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said Petitti has the “perfect blend of skills” to help the publisher reach its ambitions for esports and entertainment.

For his part, Petitti said, “It’s clear to me the company has an incredible opportunity to connect players and fans in new and innovative ways, and I’m excited to be joining the company at such an important moment in its history.”

Before his run at Major League Baseball, Petitti was the executive vice president and executive producer at CBS Sports (which is owned by GameSpot parent company ViacomCBS). He has won 13 Sports Emmy awards.

It appears there may have been some kind of shakeup at Activision Blizzard regarding its film and TV efforts. Before this, Activision had former Disney boss Nick Van Dyk serving as the co-president of Activision Studios, but his LinkedIn page says he left the company in December 2019. It’s not immediately clear if the other co-president, Stacey Sher, remains with the company. We have reached out to Activision in an attempt to get more details.

Kompletter Artikel: Activision Hires Former Major League Baseball Exec To Run Esports, TV, And Movies