{"id":2296107,"date":"2026-02-23T20:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2296107"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:16:09","slug":"updates-on-diablo-wow-overwatch-johanna-faries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/updates-on-diablo-wow-overwatch-johanna-faries\/","title":{"rendered":"Updates on Diablo, Wow, Overwatch, Johanna Faries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tThe iconic orc statue that lives at the center of Blizzard<\/a> Entertainment\u2019s Irvine campus is standing a little taller these days as the brand behind \u201cWorld of Warcraft,\u201d \u201cDiablo,\u201d \u201cHearthstone\u201d and \u201cOverwatch\u201d builds to its 35th anniversary.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n\tSitting in her office above the Microsoft-owned brand\u2019s campus on Jan. 20, Blizzard Entertainment president Johanna Faries<\/a> told Variety<\/em> that the slew of announcements that would be revealed the following week in Blizzard\u2019s big \u201cShowcase\u201d presentations were \u201cthe amalgamation of so much hard work and collaboration across everyone at Blizzard.\u201d \u201cAnd to me, that, in and of itself, is such a point of pride,\u201d Faries said.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a moment of hard-fought-for pride for Blizzard, a video game publisher that\u2019s managed to maintain its beloved status with exuberant fans despite multiple controversial changes in leadership, a $35 million settlement over misconduct accusations, and a reputation for a \u201cfrat boy\u201d workplace culture.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Blizzard Entertainment<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Blizzard Entertainment<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cThe way that the game teams have come together to ladder up into something bigger that reflects the power of Blizzard \u2014 it\u2019s easy to say, it\u2019s incredibly hard to do,\u201d said Faries, who joined Blizzard as president in 2024, following two years as general manager of the \u201cCall of Duty\u201d franchise at sister company Activision and more than 10 years in business and marketing exec roles at the NFL. \u201cAnd the way that the simple symphony orchestra that is Blizzard has come together, it\u2019s a showcase of an immense amount of work, an immense amount of creative collaboration. And it just makes me so excited to come to work every day, to be able to do this together in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the major news revealed out of Blizzard\u2019s showcase presentations \u2014 including the rebranding of \u201cOverwatch 2\u201d to \u201cOverwatch\u201d as it debuts a year-long narrative arc, \u201cWorld of Warcraft\u2019s\u201d deep expansion into in-game housing, \u201cDiablo\u2019s\u201d 30th-anniversary expansion plans \u2014 is not the peak of the anniversary celebration, but the start of the climb. What Faries and her team are really building toward is the triumphant return for BlizzCon this September, which will mark the first version of the event under Microsoft ownership after more than two years off.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve heard this from many of the teams that what we\u2019re going to announce across \u2018WoW,\u2019 \u2018Diablo,\u2019 \u2018Overwatch,\u2019 even \u2018Hearthstone\u2019 and many others, just in this moment in time for Showcase, much of that would have been what we would have put on the main stage as an announcement at BlizzCon, at something of that caliber,\u201d Faries said. \u201cSo I\u2019m hopeful that not only do we drum up an enormous amount of excitement in the here and now, but that also signals how confident we are in the belief that 2026 represents a huge, banner year for Blizzard \u2014 because Blizzcon only has more behind the curtain that we\u2019re excited to share. So hopefully players really see that and recognize, wow, if Blizzard\u2019s coming this big in this moment of time, imagine what they might be also staging for us in September.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Faries hypes up just how much she\u2019s not<\/em> overhyping BlizzCon 2026, she\u2019s also focused on what comes after that big in-person experience and what the next 35 years are supposed to look like. A big part of that is decided on the ground in Irvine, where Blizzard is cultivating its existing, homegrown talent. It\u2019s a mission Faries is charged with just as longtime Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer exits<\/a> and CoreAI exec Asha Sharma<\/a> takes over and concerns about consistency arise.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\u201cDiablo IV\u201d\/Blizzard<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBlizzard<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you go into my office and look at the art on the walls, you\u2019ll see how much it helps that we have real icons and leaders in the artist community,\u201d Faries said. \u201cWe have, I would argue, the greatest artists in all of gaming and entertainment. And so their network gives us the leg up. They\u2019re constantly thinking about, how do we recruit? How do we train up upcoming talent to continue to maintain the high-standard bar that we\u2019re known for? Our players know there\u2019s a Blizzard polish. There\u2019s a Blizzard caliber for our artistry that stands out among all the rest, and we\u2019re going to continue to make sure that that\u2019s something we prioritize.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the artist legacy a firm part of its past, Faries wants to make expanding the mediums that art is showcased in part of Blizzard\u2019s future. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe talk a lot about this. We\u2019re not Blizzard Games, we\u2019re Blizzard Entertainment. We want to be able to show up on every screen imaginable,\u201d Faries said. \u201cWe want to be able to create new fans who may not have been with us for the past 35 years. How we continue to engage Hollywood or film and TV in bigger ways is going to be, in the near term, probably a big part of that recipe. We also play in music. We also play in non-traditional spaces, beyond gaming, certainly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFaries added: \u201cI would confidently say that every one of our IPs could be some of the greatest linear media experiences that the world could experience. So more to come on the specifics. What I will say is that there are highly generative, proactive, near-term discussions across almost every one of our worlds right now, with respect to what can we do, what format works, who\u2019s the right team to take that to new audiences in a high caliber way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the announcements made during Blizzard\u2019s series of \u201cShowcase\u201d presentations was a revamp for the nearly 10-year-old \u201cOverwatch\u201d franchise with a big narrative expansion. That move came just as Wildlight Entertainment was set to debut its \u201cOverwatch 2\u201d competitor, \u201cHighguard.\u201d In the weeks since, \u201cHighguard\u201d has struggled significantly, while \u201cOverwatch 2\u201d fans have had widely positive reactions to the ambitious roadmap for \u201cOverwatch,\u201d despite a few jokes poked at the rebranding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\u201cOverwatch\u201d\/Blizzard<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBlizzard<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s coming to fruition after a couple of years of a strong conversation about, what is a real pivot going to look like?\u201d Faries said. \u201cAnd how are we going to make sure that it feels genuine, it feels deep, it feels rich, in all the ways that our players are going to want to experience these new characters? I will also say, and I hope that the team would say it as well, competition is a good thing. It keeps us on our toes. It keeps us adapting. It forces us sometimes to adapt and go quicker in spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOverwatch\u2019s\u201d new update kicked off with an intense cinematic trailer that the team already knows has once again stirred up conversations about that IP in particular being adapted for TV or film.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s something that we see signaled to us very consistently,\u201d \u201cOverwatch\u201d general manager Walter Kong told Variety.<\/em> \u201cSo whenever we put out any type of lore, including a cinematic thesis, there is a very common expression of, I wish we could have more of this, I wish that we could enjoy these stories. So when I took on the role of franchise GM, these future opportunities and possibilities were something that pushed me to say yes, yes, yes, because I think we have delivered on the game, but there\u2019s still so much on the broader franchise experience that I wanted to bring to players and fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong \u201cDiablo\u2019s\u201d big teases, including the release of the first update for \u201cDiablo II\u201d in 25 years<\/a>, \u201cDiablo IV\u201d executive producer and vice president Gavian Whishaw was particularly proud of how in the weeds his team is getting with the features in their upcoming \u201cLord of Hatred\u201d update. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe paladin that we\u2019re going to release with the expansion has an expanded skill tree,\u201d Whishaw told Variety<\/em>. \u201cAnd this is one of the things that players have been asking us for for a while. It\u2019s an extremely complex system. The joke is that we have a \u2018skill twig,\u2019 and they would like a tree, so we\u2019re giving them a tree in the expansion and players have way more choices in the paladin skills. The thing that we\u2019ve also done is we\u2019ve gone back and we\u2019ve done every other class as well. So we\u2019re hoping we can be like \u2014 OK, you wanted the tree, here\u2019s the tree for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd if deep updates to its current game are what \u201cDiablo\u201d had to share recently, is news on a new title coming at BlizzCon?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s kind of complicated when you\u2019re talking about titles that have been around for 20 years and people are still dedicated to and still playing and still going to get excited about new content,\u201d Whishaw said. \u201cI\u2019ll say at a high level, I think over 30 years of \u2018Diablo,\u2019 we\u2019ve done five titles. So I would hope that over the next 30 years we do a few more than that, maybe we get some out faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cWorld of Warcraft\u201d team, led by executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale, prioritized the game\u2019s long-awaited housing update in its Showcase, and the priority of making the game as accessible to the staple \u201cWoW\u201d player as to larger casual community.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are many of us on the team that are fans of other games, and \u2018The Sims\u2019 being one of them, where we look at it and go, here\u2019s some things the community finds frustrating, and if we can find a way to allow it and support it, then we will continually lower barriers for anybody who wants to do it and do it the way they want to do it,\u201d Longdale said. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s two sides to this. One of the most fun ones was when, through a bug, players discovered that they could make their house float above the landscape. We had a fix in place, and we were about to patch it, and the team just went, like, why are we fixing this? They\u2019re making awesome stuff, and isn\u2019t that the purpose? And then there\u2019s some things that we\u2019re like, oh, no, you should not be able to. That is one of the beautiful things about user-generated content is that once it\u2019s out there, just like \u2018World of Warcraft\u2019 in general, they own it, and then it\u2019s our job to support it and put some guardrails where they\u2019re needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLongdale says the journey to housing has been \u201citerative and involved a lot of deeper discussions from the beginning.\u201d \u201cAnd it got slowly over time less restrictive, less restrictive, less restrictive,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then looking at problems like, well, why do we want raiders to care about housing? It\u2019s like, yeah, we want them to care \u2014 but they\u2019re not required <\/em>to care. So making sure that every game loop and audience has some representation, but anyone can do it and participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBlizzard Entertainment as a whole is now trying to strike that balance between giving its 35-year-old brand the room to grow and introduce new things to draw in new audiences and keep the business thriving, while not pushing away its stalwarts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe believe we have the best IP in entertainment,\u201d Faries said. \u201cWe believe we have some of the greatest gaming talent the world\u2019s ever known. We are going to be as good as our ability to collaborate across these functions and putting together the playbook internally to brainstorm as one, have strong strategic conversations and planning cycles as one, and to align against a big vision that we have for the whole company, in addition to our individual universes and games.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The iconic orc statue that lives at the center of Blizzard Entertainment\u2019s Irvine campus is standing a little taller these days as the brand behind \u201cWorld of Warcraft,\u201d \u201cDiablo,\u201d \u201cHearthstone\u201d and \u201cOverwatch\u201d builds to its 35th anniversary. Sitting in her office above the Microsoft-owned brand\u2019s campus on Jan. 20, Blizzard Entertainment president Johanna Faries told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2296108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[425295,425297,444969],"class_list":["post-2296107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-blizzard","tag-johanna-faries","tag-microsoft-gaming"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Updates-on-Diablo-Wow-Overwatch-Johanna-Faries.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2296107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2296109,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2296107\/revisions\/2296109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2296108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2296107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2296107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2296107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}