Introducing Johanna Faries as the new President of Blizzard Entertainment

Today, the following email was delivered to all Blizzard employees by Johanna Faries, the new President of Blizzard Entertainment

[Obscure_Observer]

Congrats Johanna Faries!

[Jin_Sakai]

Don’t forget to congrats them on cancelling their survival game that was 6 years in development.

[Obscure_Observer]

Yeah, it sucks

I was personally looking forward to that game. But I heard Odyssey were facing technical issues and would be powered by a mobile engine. So *maybe*, not much of a big loss.

[Fishy Fingers]

After 6 years, no reveal, no info and cancelled. Must of been a banger.

[darthv72]

if you mean the one that was being built using a mobile device engine... good riddance.

[thesoftware730]

Yeah, I was interested in learning more about that survival game for sure, it's hard to miss tho, since we know like absolutely nothing about it.

It's kinda how, we should congratulate ND for canceling Factions I guess.many people were looking forward to that game...bummer, shit happens, right?

[Michiel1989]

cancelling an mmo that was longer than 6 years in development netted them overwatch though. Also the majority of that time was probably spend by a couple people on it, happens in every company all the time except there is a magnifying glass on blizzard cause of bad press.

[Jin_Sakai]

@Fishy Fingers

“After 6 years, no reveal, no info and cancelled. Must of been a banger.”

Seems like the game design was more than what today’s game engines could handle.

“It was prototyped on Unreal but switched to an internal engine called Synapse because Unreal couldn't support the 100 player maps they wanted. Synapse ran into technical problems that stalled development.”

At least the developers working on the game were pretty optimistic.

"I was making incredible creatures and enemies with some of the most talented people I've ever met," Bob Mowzie, who worked as an encounter designer on the project, says on Twitter. "I'm heartbroken, and I'm so sorry I won't get to deliver this amazing game to you all…"

“Former Blizzard developer Johnny Cash writes: "The Blizz survival game was fantastic, the team behind it even more fantastic, and it is our collective loss to never be able to experience it as a finished piece.."

“For Riot software engineer Anna Rosenberg, this was the first AAA game they worked on: "I'm devastated no one else will get to experience it," they write.“

[porkChop]

Oh, Jin. Always so ready to flap your gums but never ready to do any research.

There's a good reason it was cancelled. It was prototyped on Unreal and then moved to Synapse, an in-house engine designed for mobile games. Trying to build a AAA 100-person multiplayer survival game in an engine designed for phones brought significant problems. The devs wanted to switch back to Unreal, which would mean the projected 2026 release would get pushed back significantly.

The team had apparently built a lot of cool encounters with interesting creature designs though. Hopefully that gets used in a new project. After Project Titan was cancelled they took a lot of the assets and ideas and created Overwatch. Something similar could happen here as well.

[Reaper22_]

Sony's The Last Guardian was delayed an entire generation.

[Sonic1881]

LMFAO

[Jin_Sakai]

Blizzard of Duty coming soon. Seriously though, her resume doesn’t really scream president of blizzard.

[Crows90]

Well you clearly never cared much for blizzard.

[OhReginald]

Yea lick that boot. Mmm lick lick

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Cool man but unfortunately that most of Blizzard got cut

[BeHunted]

Congratulations on becoming a member of the Xbox Family!

[Barlos]

That's not something to really be proud of

[MrDead]

An eSports head in charge of Blizzard...

Shame it cost so many jobs and no new games coming to Xbox outside of what was already coming.

So just to make it simple for the simple, no new games, two publishers no longer competing, lots of workers being fired but MS and it's wealthy CEO's get wealthier

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

That's nothing to be proud of. At all.

[rippermcrip]

Blizzard was dragged down by Activision.

So, they they pick someone who was in charge of COD eSports to run Blizzard.

Genius.

[crazyCoconuts]

Spent 2 years as a general manager for COD, and the rest of her career in the NFL and a few years in eSports. Like the opposite of an industry veteran.

[RaidenBlack]

and here I thought, under MS, they'd finally be free from Activision ... Nups.
Will we ever get Warcraft IV or Starcraft III?

[Asplundh]

She was probably chosen just because her ethnic background, which MS has been scrutinized over in past.
Apparently diversity > the best person for the job.

[Umb]

In this woke world that it, until it comes to them specifically. Gaurantee they will get the best quailfied over DEI in a nano second such a surgeon who will operating on them!

[-Foxtrot]

Not to mention with the sexual harassment scandal, she's also a woman aswell

Gives them a lot of brownie points.

[notachance]

oooff definitely not the kind of person you'd trust to bring back the old blizzard, I can see they're trying to go ham on live service and monetization instead.

[jznrpg]

Like they have not done that before? That is about all they do these days.

[crazyCoconuts]

But even live service and monetization needs an experienced leader I'd think. I mean - I'd think they'd want to put someone in there that has demonstrated an ability to lead the successful development and release of a game.... any game? Experience be damned i guess...

[AdonisIsBeast]

Check

Box

[mastershredder]

lol. Omg Basic Corp climber as you get. Nice mascot guys. You still suck royal azz.

[PassNextquestion]

I don't remember Blizzard being much of company to be bringing out new ips all the time.

. Starcraft
. Diablo
. Warcraft
. World of war craft
. Overwatch

[Ethereal]

How's that acquisition going? Oh, they appointed the COD manager and former NFL executive to run Blizzard. Can't wait to play as Nikki Minaj in Diablo.

[Fist4achin]

Wait, I thought she already was an enemy boss in diablo

[Tzuno]

It is over, if you've had any hope... abandon it!

[shaenoide]

Yeah ! Activision has officially taken control over Blizzard.

[monkey602]

Yeah supposedly the ground level staff at Blizzard aren't pleased by this at all.

[Nitode]

Lol… black woman after an white male «devil». Thats a big political statement, most likely not the most qualified, just a face to turn things around.

[Crows90]

RIP blizzard

You were loved once. This is the final nail.

[jznrpg]

Really I don’t see how it gets any worse but maybe they will surprise

[Crows90]

Wow... optimistic! I think I have a greater chance of winning the lottery.

[aaronaton]

As a Playstation fanboy, i approve this hiring and i hope she sticks around for years to come.

[Retro1986]

Well, its something new. Cant get worse than it was before. Lets Hope its something that will flourish and become something good for the gaming community 😊 Good luck on your new challenges 👍

[frostypants]

Time to accept that modern Blizzard is a corporate drone mill and has been ever since Activision took over years ago. There is nothing left of the innovative and passionate upstart studio that it once was. Zero connection beyond the name and some decaying IPs.

[anast]

She might have a new idea on how to hide microtransactions for a while.

[DOMination-]

Good to gnome

[Mikeyy]

DEI strikes again. Sofar absolutely nothing positive has come from this acquisition.