Blizzard Entertainment is now Microsoft's top-performing studio, beating out Call of Duty and Candy Crush

Blizzard Entertainment

A leaked internal email from Blizzard President Johanna Faries has confirmed that Blizzard ended fiscal year 2026 as the top-performing studio in Xbox's entire studios division, with Diablo 4 and Overwatch leading the charge. The milestone is all the more striking given that Xbox as a whole was 11% down in FY26, with Call of Duty and Candy Crush both having difficult years.

The details:

As reported by Windows Central, Faries told staff: "In FY26 Blizzard ended the year as the top-performing studio in Xbox's studios division, and this past year has marked our third highest fiscal for top line revenue in Blizzard's history."
FY25 and FY26 were Blizzard's first back-to-back years of growth since FY17, the year Overwatch originally launched. Faries credits "Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred and Overwatch" specifically, noting Overwatch delivered its strongest quarter since 2022.
The email was sent ahead of BlizzCon 2026, set for September 12 in Anaheim. Faries described the event as "a powerful springboard into a new era of momentum and excitement."
The success stands in contrast to the broader Xbox picture. Microsoft has already divested Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, and others, and id Software has been significantly cut. Blizzard has so far been spared.
Per Windows Central's Jez Corden, Blizzard operates as a "limited-integration entity" within Xbox rather than a fully absorbed studio, which appears to have given it the freedom to turn things around.

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