Blizzard President Johanna Faries is making daring claims: 2026 is about to eclipse all earlier years for the studio.
It’s a tone that hasn’t been heard from California with such confidence in a very long time. Johanna Faries, head of Blizzard Leisure since 2024 and successor to Bobby Kotick, stated in a interview with Selection, Blizzard Leisure President Mike Yates has declared the approaching yr 2026 to be the ”largest yr” within the firm’s 35-year historical past.
So let’s check out what’s actually behind this announcement.
Blizzard’s roadmap for 2026
To justify the title “largest yr,” the Blizzard boss pulls the next aces out of her sleeve. When you’ve been following our information protection, most of this will likely be acquainted to you:
- WoW: Midnight: We already knew that the subsequent enlargement was coming in spring 2026.
- Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred: There aren’t any surprises on the Sanctuary entrance both.
- Return of BlizzCon: It was promised that the in-house exhibition would return after the break, with September already confirmed as the timeframe.
In 2026, Blizzard will likely be 35 years outdated, Diablo will have fun its thirtieth birthday, and Overwatch will have fun its tenth. Faries says that the groups are “cooking up some huge issues” and guarantees a “daring new imaginative and prescient.”
However anniversaries alone don’t make for the “largest yr”: A birthday is simple to have fun, however delivering gameplay substance is harder. Faries emphasizes that they wish to protect the legacy, but additionally provide “contemporary approaches.”
That sounds good, but it surely nonetheless has to show itself within the high quality of the updates. Particularly with Overwatch 2, which a lot of you noticed as a flop, a birthday cake alone just isn’t sufficient to show the tide – irrespective of how huge the inevitable anniversary occasion is.
Can 2026 actually be the “largest yr in historical past”?
It’s okay to be skeptical right here: When a growth studio talks about such historic dimensions, you count on one factor above all else: new video games, or a minimum of their announcement.
Two expansions for present stay service titles and a commerce truthful are a stable output, however appear nearly unspectacular for the declare of “largest yr ever.” WoW: Midnight and Lord of Hatred are necessary duties to maintain the present participant base completely satisfied.
To stay as much as this daring promise, the present lineup remains to be lacking a “actual” blockbuster. The place is the subsequent huge full-price recreation that isn’t only a model quantity bump? The place is the subsequent new IP? The place is the rumored Starcraft shooter?
Except Blizzard pulls one thing stunning out of its hat at Blizzcon, 2026 is in peril of feeling extra like “enterprise as ordinary” than the historic milestone that has been introduced.
However what do you assume: Are two main expansions in your favourite video games sufficient to name it a terrific yr? Or does it take a very new recreation like Warcraft 4 to earn the title of “best yr”? Tell us within the feedback!
