The year 2026 is set to be a big one for Blizzard. At least that’s what the company’s head, Johanna Faries, says. She is optimistic about the future, but also makes it clear: “Not everything’s going to hit”
Where does she say that? This statement was made in a new episode of the official Xbox podcast. The president of Blizzard was invited as a guest. You can watch the episode in full on YouTube. Blizzard has been part of Microsoft’s gaming division since the acquisition in October 2023.
Joanna Faries has been president of Blizzard since February 2024 and talks about the 35th anniversary of the company, the major updates for many Blizzard titles recently, and what players can expect.
With a new season and 5 new heroes at once, Overwatch is really ramping up:
Blizzard plans big things for the year 2026
Blizzard has delivered a lot in recent months, more is to come: Fans have received a lot to be happy about in the last months.
- WoW finally got housing
- Diablo 4 has received a Paladin class and Diablo 2 Resurrected has also received a DLC
- Overwatch has also received a major update.
That’s not all, says Faries. “We will simply continue to lay the groundwork for what will hopefully be a very, very big year,” the president states regarding 2026.
No major announcements were made in this podcast episode, but BlizzCon is expected to provide that this year. “The teams are cooking,” says Faries. They are very excited to present some “major announcements or maybe surprises”.
There’s sort of a reliability that players can depend on us to launch in big ways, launch in surprising ways. Maybe take some zags! Not everything’s going to hit. That’s gaming. But in many ways, let’s understand where we are going – not only as a company, but by franchise, by game.
Such a surprise could be a new game in the StarCraft series. The strategy series has been dug up by Blizzard only for new expensive skins in Diablo 4 recently. There hasn’t been a new game since StarCraft 2 about 10 years ago. However, insiders believe that the new StarCraft could be a shooter, not a strategy game.
One of Blizzard’s most famous brands is now Warcraft. But it almost didn’t have that name. This emerges from an interview with Holly Langdale and Ion Hazzikostas, who have been guiding the direction of WoW for years at Blizzard. The name sounded too scary – a statement that caused criticism. You can read more about it here: Is Blizzard sacrificing the soul of Warcraft to be like Disney? The former head responds to the criticism
