Polygon investing in talent
Polygon, long tipped to be the most hopeful candidate for wide-scale Ethereum scaling, is doubling down on its efforts to become a web3 powerhouse.
The popular blockchain announced that Polygon Studios, its developer relationship brand, hired new talent from renowned companies like Amazon, Google, Youtube, Electronic Arts, Penske Media and Mythical Games in an effort to bolster its push into blockchain gaming. The hiring spree included appointing Michael Blank as Chief Operating Officer and Young Ko as Chief Financial Officer.
Banks, who served two decades at Electronic Arts in different senior leadership roles, is an expert in corporate strategy. For instance, he developed EA’s expansion strategy that saw the gaming behemoth grow to the 300 million global users it has today. Banks also served as Executive Producer at several of EA’s top game franchises.
Young Ko worked 16 years in the entertainment, music, fashion, and real estate sector and has extensive financial and entrepreneurial experience. He served nine years as the VP of Finance at Penske Media and was in charge of their finance, treasury, and global tax teams.
Polygon also hired other experienced talent like:
- Ben Watley (Senior Director of Strategy and Gaming): gaming industry veteran with experience at EA.
- Will Matteson (Corporate Strategy Manager)
- Urvit Goel (VP, Gaming Business Development): former Amazon executive.
- Charnjit Bansi (VP, Game Design): web2 game development expert with work experience at Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Mythical Games.
Recently appointed Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Watt (former YouTube executive) was understandably thrilled with the influx of high-class talent into the company. He noted that Polygon was building out the “dream team of Web3” and its combined expertise and perspective from traditional and bockchain industry would be “Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games.”
Polygon set for massive growth in the long run
With this hiring spree complete, Polygon looks set for a massive leap ahead in Ethereum scaling. After the blockchain’s first growth spurt towards the end of 2020 and going into 2021, the sector’s pivot to NFTs and subsequent cool-off period meant that Polygon’s big plans lost some of the omentum they had picked up. With the crypto industry firmly back into building mode, it looks like the right time for Polygon to lay the foundation for future growth.
For what it’s worth, gas fees on Ethereum have decreased significantly over the last few weeks, as the frenzy in NFTs and DeFi subsided. Many real and not-so-real competitors building scaling solutions for Ethereum will be dropping out of the race over the course of 2022. Polygon’s willingness to hire top class talent indicates the company is in it for the long haul.
With Ethereum’s “merge” scheduled to go ahead in 2022 eventually, the focus will once again switch to layer-two solutions complementing it. The way things are shaping up, Polygon will be the first blockchain that comes to mind.