Blizzard Boss Is Excited to Join Microsoft, Says Blizzard Has ‘So Much’ Coming from Its Talented Teams

Following Microsoft’s win against the US Federal Trade Commission (who had requested a preliminary injunction to block the $68.7 billion deal to purchase Activision Blizzard), President of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Ybarra expressed his satisfaction at the outcome with the embedded tweet.

What a great way to start a Tuesday.

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) July 11, 2023

That’s hardly surprising, as Mike Ybarra worked at Microsoft for nearly two decades. He started on Windows before moving to work as a General Manager on Xbox Live, then Partner Studio Manager at Xbox Game Studios, Corporate VP of Program Management of the Xbox platform, and lastly Corporate VP of Xbox Live, Xbox Game Pass, and Mixer. Ybarra left Microsoft in early October 2019; two weeks later, he announced to have joined Blizzard in the role of Executive Vice President and General Manager.

In August 2021, he was promoted to co-president of Blizzard alongside Jen Oneal after J. Allen Brack had to step down following the lawsuits filed against Activision Blizzard for widespread discrimination and harassment. Oneal also stepped down just three months later, leaving Ybarra as the sole president of Blizzard since then.

These were tough years for the development studio. Besides the aforementioned lawsuits, Blizzard also had to delay major titles like Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. Overwatch 2 eventually launched in October 2022 as an early access release featuring only PvP modes. The developers promised to add the full-fledged PvE content and progression systems at a later date. However, they backed down from those plans just a few weeks ago, opting to instead deliver limited-time PvE missions starting with the upcoming Season 6.

Luckily for Blizzard, Diablo IV’s delay paid off. The game launched to critical and commercial acclaim last month. It had earned more than $666 million in revenue by June 11th. In my review, I wrote:

Diablo IV is a return to form at a much needed time for Blizzard. It delivers incredibly fun hack and slash action combat, a greatly improved skill system, and a ton of things to do, not to mention the best story told in the franchise yet. It also looks awesome, sounds great, and runs well (except for rare instances of traversal stuttering). That said, it sticks a little bit too closely to the rulebook, which works against it in a few areas.

It’s not just about Diablo for Blizzard, though. A few hours ago, Mike Ybarra teased other exciting projects from the rest of the company’s internal development teams.

We have so much coming from such talented teams. Some people told me years ago Blizzard was a “sleeping giant”. To them I say, the sleeping giant is awake and in full force. Players are the center of everything we do – and always will be. We are just getting started.

We don’t know much about what Blizzard’s future lineup looks like, though this year’s Blizzcon (the first in-person following COVID) could be the place to make a few announcements. One certain item is the new survival game IP that was quietly announced in early 2022. It seems like the project had been in the works for 4 and a half years at that time, so a release date might not be that far off.

What else would you like to see from Blizzard? Perhaps a new strategy game in Starcraft or Warcraft? Let us know below!