Ryan Wyatt

Ryan Wyatt (born October 7, 1986)[2][3] is an American gaming executive and former esports commentator under the name Fwiz. He is currently the global head of gaming partnerships at Google and head of gaming at YouTube, where he also leads their virtual and augmented reality business.

Ryan Wyatt
Wyatt in 2019
Born (1986-10-07) October 7, 1986
Canton, Ohio, U.S.
Other namesFwiz
Alma materOhio State University
Occupation
  • Gaming executive
  • eSports commentator
Years active2008–present
TitleGlobal Head of Gaming and Virtual Reality at YouTube
Notes

Early life

Wyatt was born in Canton, Ohio and raised in the neighbouring town of Hudson, going on to attend Ohio State University.[4] As a child, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and received treatment at the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital.[5][6]

Career

Wyatt began his commentary career working for Major League Gaming (MLG) in 2008, casting at events such as the 2009 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare National Championship,[7] as well as working as a referee and head of online tournaments for MLG's online eSports service GameBattles.[8] In 2011, he joined Machinima as head of live and eSports, but returned to MLG in April 2014 to serve as vice president of programming.[9] As part of the deal, Wyatt's personal live video and YouTube channels were aired exclusively on MLG's streaming service MLG.tv, as well as their YouTube channel.[10] In October 2014, Wyatt left MLG again to become the global head of gaming partnerships at Google and head of gaming at YouTube.[11]

In May 2016, Wyatt collaborated with OpTic Gaming members Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag, Seth "Scump" Abner, Will "BigTymeR" Johnson, Ashley "Midnite" Glassel and Ryan "OpTic J" Musselman in co-authoring the book OpTic Gaming: The Making of eSports Champions, which details the players' individual Call of Duty eSports careers and their contributions to the team's success.[12] The book became a New York Times best-seller, and film and television rights were acquired by producers John Sacchi and Matt Groesch.[13][14]

Recognition

In January 2015, Wyatt was featured in the Games category for "Top Young Designers, Executives and Players" on the annual Forbes 30 Under 30 list.[15]

In October 2018, Wyatt was recognized by Business Insider as one of the "Top Stars Leading Google's Entertainment Empire".[16]

In January 2020, Wyatt was nominated for a Shorty Award in the Gaming category.[17]

In September 2020, Wyatt was named to Fortune's 40 under 40 list.

Personal life

On September 4, 2017, Wyatt announced his engagement to girlfriend Kayla Gish.[18] The two married on August 18, 2018.[19][20]

Philanthropy

Wyatt is a board member of the Gamers Outreach Foundation, which provides recreation to children receiving treatment in hospitals with gaming technology, equipment and software. Wyatt cites his experience with Crohn's disease as one of his motivations for wanting to help others.[21][6]

Books
  • Rodriguez, Hector; Haag, Matthew; Abner, Seth; Johnson, Will; Glassel, Ashley; Musselman, Ryan; Wyatt, Ryan (May 17, 2016). OpTic Gaming: The Making of eSports Champions. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062449306.

References
  1. "Ryan Wyatt". LinkedIn. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  2. Wyatt, Ryan [@Fwiz] (October 8, 2016). "Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Here's some pictures of me the past 30 years 😂. Love you all!" (Tweet). Retrieved January 24, 2019 – via Twitter.
  3. Wyatt, Ryan [@Fwiz] (October 7, 2018). "All I want for my birthday is a Browns win today" (Tweet). Retrieved January 24, 2019 – via Twitter.
  4. Papadopoulos, Anna (January 21, 2019). "Meet The Young And Influential Head Honcho Of Youtube Gaming". CEOWORLD magazine. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  5. Gaudiosi, John (February 3, 2014). "Gamers Outreach Founder Explains How ESports Can Help Others". GameSkinny. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  6. Seppala, Timothy J. (February 27, 2017). "The charity that wants video game karts in every hospital". Engadget. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  7. James, Ford (April 17, 2015). "History of CoD eSports: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare". Dot eSports. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  8. Prell, Sam (April 22, 2014). "MLG taps former Machinima exec Ryan Wyatt for VP of programming". Engadget. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  9. "Ryan "Fwiz" Wyatt Joins MLG as VP of Programming". Major League Gaming. April 17, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  10. Graser, Marc (April 17, 2014). "Machinima eSports Commentator Ryan Wyatt Rejoins Major League Gaming". Variety. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  11. Johnson, Eric (October 26, 2014). "eSports Commentator Ryan Wyatt Heads to Google". Recode. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  12. Rodriguez, Hector; Haag, Matthew; Abner, Seth; Johnson, Will; Glassel, Ashley; Musselman, Ryan; Wyatt, Ryan (May 17, 2016). OpTic Gaming: The Making of eSports Champions. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062449306.
  13. McNary, Dave (July 27, 2016). "'OpTic Gaming: Making of eSports Champions' Movie in the Works (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  14. "Games and Activities Books - Best Sellers - June 12, 2016". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  15. "Forbes' 30 Under 30 2015: Games". Forbes. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  16. Sandoval, Greg (October 1, 2018). "Top stars leading Google's efforts to build a media and entertainment empire". Business Insider. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  17. "Ryan Wyatt - Gaming". Shorty Awards. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  18. Kent, Mike (September 4, 2017). "Former CoD Commentator Fwiz Announces Engagement". Dexerto. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  19. "Words could never appropriately describe what this past weekend meant to me. Thank you to everyone who has touched our lives, who took time out of their weekend to celebrate us and most importantly thank you to my wife. Everything about the weekend was truly magical. 8.18.18". Ryan Wyatt on Instagram. August 20, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  20. Wyatt, Ryan [@Fwiz] (January 2, 2018). "@CallofDuty my wedding is August 18th, 2018. Don't make Champs that day. You won't have anyone to commentate. Sincerely, Ryan" (Tweet). Retrieved January 24, 2019 – via Twitter.
  21. "Our Crew". Gamers Outreach Foundation. Archived from the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
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