Yuga Labs, web3 leader and home of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), CryptoPunks, Meebits, and more, today announced the appointment of Daniel Alegre as chief executive officer (CEO), effective in the first half of 2023.

He succeeds Nicole Muniz, who will stay on as a partner and strategic advisor to the company. Alegre will work closely with Yuga Labs founders Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano in continuing to grow the business.

Yuga made clear its ambitious metaverse plans earlier this year when they announced Otherside, a gamified metaverse inspired by MMORPGs. “The company has scaled quickly to help make that dream a reality and will benefit from Alegre’s 25-plus years of experience building global, disruptive, and successful customer and community-centric businesses,” the startup said in a statement.

Alegre has served as president and chief operating officer of Activision Blizzard overseeing international delivery and commercialisation of franchises such as Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Diablo®, Overwatch®, and Candy Crush™ since early 2020.

He also spent over 16 years at Google, where he was the company’s president of global and strategic partnerships, president of shopping, and payments as well as president of Asia Pacific and Latin America throughout his career there.

“The business, our ambitions, and the complexity of the work have grown beyond our wildest expectations. We are thrilled to have Daniel join the team to help with our vision of a truly interoperable metaverse. 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.

“Since exploding onto the scene with Bored Ape Yacht Club in 2021, Yuga Labs has quickly made a name for itself through a powerful combination of storytelling and community-building,” said Alegre.

“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 to innovate, inspire, and shape the future of the internet together.”

Yuga’s initiatives aim to reinvent what real-world utility for NFTs look like and push the space forward as a whole. Since their launch in April 2021 with flagship collection Bored Ape Yacht Club, they’ve made headlines as one of the first companies to release IP licenses to their NFT holders, acquired and released rights to other top collections (CryptoPunks and Meebits), and made web3 history with record-breaking synchronised player participation in their newest initiative, Otherside.

One of the most ambitious interactive metaverse projects to date, Otherside, is built with the community, rebelling against traditional walled gardens in gaming spaces. In March 2022, Yuga Labs raised a $450 million seed round at a $4 billion valuation.