Blizzard President Johanna Faries is making bold claims: 2026 is set to eclipse all previous years for the studio.
It’s a tone that hasn’t been heard from California with such confidence in a long time. Johanna Faries, head of Blizzard Entertainment since 2024 and successor to Bobby Kotick, said in a interview with Variety, Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Yates has declared the coming year 2026 to be the ”biggest year” in the company’s 35-year history.
So let’s take a look at what’s really behind this announcement.
Blizzard’s roadmap for 2026
To justify the title “biggest year,” the Blizzard boss pulls the following aces out of her sleeve. If you’ve been following our news coverage, most of this will be familiar to you:
- WoW: Midnight: We already knew that the next expansion was coming in spring 2026.
- Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred: There are no surprises on the Sanctuary front either.
- Return of BlizzCon: It was promised that the in-house exhibition would return after the break, with September already confirmed as the time frame.
In 2026, Blizzard will be 35 years old, Diablo will celebrate its 30th birthday, and Overwatch will celebrate its 10th. Faries says that the teams are “cooking up some big things” and promises a “bold new vision.”
But anniversaries alone don’t make for the “biggest year”: A birthday is easy to celebrate, but delivering gameplay substance is more difficult. Faries emphasizes that they want to preserve the legacy, but also offer “fresh approaches.”
That sounds good, but it still has to prove itself in the quality of the updates. Especially with Overwatch 2, which many of you saw as a flop, a birthday cake alone is not enough to turn the tide – no matter how big the inevitable anniversary event is.
Can 2026 really be the “biggest year in history”?
It’s okay to be skeptical here: When a development studio talks about such historic dimensions, you expect one thing above all else: new games, or at least their announcement.
Two expansions for existing live service titles and a trade fair are a solid output, but seem almost unspectacular for the claim of “biggest year ever.” WoW: Midnight and Lord of Hatred are mandatory tasks to keep the existing player base happy.
To live up to this bold promise, the current lineup is still missing a “real” blockbuster. Where is the next big full-price game that isn’t just a version number bump? Where is the next new IP? Where is the rumored Starcraft shooter?
Unless Blizzard pulls something surprising out of its hat at Blizzcon, 2026 is in danger of feeling more like “business as usual” than the historic milestone that has been announced.
But what do you think: Are two major expansions for your favorite games enough to call it a great year? Or does it take a completely new game like Warcraft 4 to earn the title of “greatest year”? Let us know in the comments!
