Summary
In the wake of a tumultuous time atBlizzard Entertainment, the company tapped formerCall of Dutygeneral manager Johanna Faries as the new President of Blizzard Entertainment. Faries is the first woman to assume the mantle of President atBlizzard, and she takes the position following the sudden resignation of former lead Mike Ybarra.
Ybarra’s resignation came immediately following a mass wave of layoffs across Microsoft’s gaming branches, which included Activision Blizzard. With over 1,900 positions cut, including some ofBlizzard’s customer service team, the layoffs were part of a rough month for game developers. At the same time, Blizzard also saw one of the company’s co-founders, Allen Adham, announce his departure. Adham founded Blizzard, previously known as Silicon & Synapse, alongside Frank Pearce and Mike Morhaime in February 1991. Since then, Blizzard has seen a few leadership changes under both Activision and Microsoft.
On January 29, Microsoft appointed Johanna Faries to take the position of Blizzard’s new president. As the former general manager of theCall of Dutyfranchise, Faries is the first woman to hold the position as the head of Blizzard Entertainment. Before her time at Activision Blizzard, Faries spent 12 years in the front office of the National Football League (NFL) across multiple marketing and business departments. According toan email sent to all Blizzard staff, Faries begins her duties on February 5. While Faries acknowledgesthe January layoffs at Microsoftin her letter, she said that Activision, Blizzard, and King are different companies with various ideas and expectations. Faries added that she will continue working with Blizzard’s leadership team in the meantime.
Who Is Johanna Faries?
In addition to her past work with theCall of Dutyfranchise and her esports background, Faries said that she plays games such asDiablo 4andBaldur’s Gate 3in her downtime. As part of Microsoft’s restructuring of all its gaming studios and acquisitions, Faries will work alongside other executives, including Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox Game Studios lead Matt Booty. Faries takes over amid a busy 2024 at Blizzard, with updates toWorld of WarcraftandDiablo 4already on the table. Whether Faries will lend her expertise in esports tothe newly-formedOverwatchChampionship Seriesremains to be seen.
Betweenthe cancelation of its survival gameand the leadership change, January has been quite a roller-coaster ride for Blizzard Entertainment. Only time will tell how Faries and the rest of Blizzard’s staff will handle things in the future.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
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