Blizzard Leisure is reportedly Microsoft’s golden baby after Overwatch and Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred helped it change into the “top-performing” Xbox studio.
The World of Warcraft recreation developer’s president, Johanna Faries, celebrated its standing in leaked emails reported on by Home windows Central. On the heels of a lackluster earnings report for Xbox, she was mentioned to have informed employees that Blizzard is firing on all cylinders.
“In FY26 Blizzard ended the yr because the top-performing studio in Xbox’s studios division,” Faries’ leaked emails said, “and this previous yr has marked our third highest fiscal for prime line income in Blizzard’s historical past.”
Blizzard’s president then went on to substantiate that FY25 and FY26 marked the studio’s “first back-to-back years of progress since FY17.” That is practically 10 years with out that sort of progress delivered to an finish thanks to 2 video games specifically.
Blizzard oversees a wealth of IP, however solely two “drove distinctive efficiency” specifically: Overwatch and Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred. The latter, the second DLC enlargement for 2023’s Diablo 4, launched in April of this yr. It constructed upon its critically acclaimed action-RPG dungeon-crawler basis with extra story content material, a brand new area, the Paladin and Warlock courses, and extra.
By even its most controversial moments, Diablo stays one in all Blizzard’s strongest performers. Overwatch, in the meantime, has fluctuated within the 10 years since its launch, however latest years have proven the studio is prepared to place the work into the hero shooter to not solely hold it going however make it higher than ever.
The final two years have seen Blizzard ship resets for Overwatch. It first started in 2025 with the return of loot containers and the brand new perk system, whereas 2026 dropped the “2” to select up the slack with 10 new heroes for the yr and a great deal of quality-of-life updates. Was all of it value it? Faries appears to assume so, with Overwatch lately boasting “its strongest quarter since 2022.”
Faries mentioned its latest wins will assist “form Blizzard’s future,” which, for now, largely stays a thriller to the general public. Home windows Central additionally reported that the corporate is engaged on cellular spinoffs and trans-media tasks for a few of its franchises, whereas work on the subsequent foremost Diablo undertaking progresses. Though nothing has been formally introduced, BlizzCon 2026 will hopefully supply a peek behind that curtain when it arrives September 12 – 13, 2026.
“It is my hope that the occasion can shine a light-weight on the work underway at Blizzard,” the e-mail continued, “and that it could actually function a strong springboard into a brand new period of momentum and pleasure behind our mission to carry pleasure and belonging for communities worldwide.”
Xbox, which additionally encompasses huge IPs like Name of Responsibility, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Halo, and extra, is in any other case going by way of a historic tough patch. Following CEO Asha Sharma’s promise to “reset” the model, Microsoft has introduced layoffs that can have an effect on 3,200 employees when all is claimed and performed. As Microsoft sheds gaming studios and makes an attempt to refocus on its core IP, one id Software program developer has put Xbox on blast, saying executives on the firm “essentially do not perceive artwork.”
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is greatest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Make sure you give him a observe on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
