Former Xbox Executive Says Gaming Doesn’t Compete With TikTok, it Competes With ‘Time’

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Mike Ybarra, a former Microsoft executive and the president of Blizzard, doesn’t think gaming and social media are rivals. He recently shared that he believes gaming isn’t competing with short-form video platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.

Ybarra points out that because video games usually take many hours to complete, they don’t really compete with short-form video platforms for people’s attention. He argues that gaming actually competes with time itself – it’s a battle for how people choose to spend their free time.

According to Ybarra, gaming isn’t really competing with platforms like TikTok or YouTube Shorts. It’s competing for people’s time overall. He explains that video games are long, immersive experiences that can make you lose track of time and offer an escape from daily life. Short-form videos, on the other hand, are something you enjoy in small bursts whenever you have a few free minutes during the day.

So, someone on X pointed out that we all spend around 4 hours and 37 minutes every day glued to our phones, which made me think about what Tristan Harris was saying. It’s hard to believe we’re all just endlessly scrolling when most of us have jobs! But Harris came back with a pretty interesting point – he thinks a lot of that phone time actually happens while we’re at school or work. He says when we finally get home, that’s when we switch to stuff like movies, TV, or, you know, actually playing video games – the longer, more involved stuff.

According to Ybarra, people tend to spend a lot of time on social media like Instagram and TikTok – especially when they should be working or studying. It’s common for them to spend hours each day on these platforms instead of focusing on their tasks.

Video games primarily compete for people’s free time after work or school. While they do compete with movies and TV, they don’t really compete with social media. I don’t think that’s accurate, and the way it’s being presented is just wrong. I could be mistaken, but the current messaging feels off.

Ybarra’s comments follow a recent statement from Matt Booty, head of Xbox content and studios, that Microsoft sees its competition not as other gaming consoles, but as apps like TikTok and other entertainment options such as movies – essentially, they’re competing for people’s free time.

Honestly, what I’m hearing from the team is that they’re really focused on reaching players wherever they are. It’s not about beating out PlayStation or Xbox anymore, at least not directly. We’re competing for people’s free time with everything – TikTok, Netflix, going to the movies… basically anything that pulls people away from gaming. It’s a totally different landscape now.

Following the reveal of Halo: Campaign Evolved and the announcement that it will be the first Halo game released on PlayStation, as well as PC and Xbox Series X/S, Booty made this statement. This move comes after Xbox president Sarah Bond suggested that limiting games to specific consoles is an outdated practice.

According to Bond, the most popular games—like Call of Duty, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox—are widely accessible on many platforms. He believes these games are key to building gaming communities, providing places for players to connect. He argues that restricting games to a single store or device is outdated and doesn’t reflect how most people want to play.

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2025-10-29 18:42