Today Blizzard Entertainment revealed that Johanna Faries will become the new president of Blizzard Entertainment. She will replace Mike Ybarra who is leaving the company. Previously Faries was the general manager of Call of Duty at Activision.
The head of studios at Microsoft Gaming, Matt Booty, has commented the following: ”Over the last few months, I’ve gotten to know Johanna and she has impressed me with her thoughtful, considerate and focused approach to leadership. Some of you may already know Johanna from her more than five years at Activision Blizzard King, most recently as General Manager of Call of Duty and her role as executive champion of ABK’s Black Employee Network.”
Johanna Faries herself had the following things to say:
Hi all. Today I sent the below note to @Blizzard_Ent. As for X: I play to stay in "listen mode" here, but trust I'm tuned in! As for me: a typical day=work life+yogi life+games life. Currently on heavy rotation: D4, COD, BG3. Feeling blessed & grateful🙏🏽Onward. ✨ pic.twitter.com/Ph8XgsTcpk
With Faries leaving Activision, the Call of Duty maker has also revealed some changes to their staff. Matt Cox has been appointed as new GM of Call of Duty, Tyler Bahl is the new SVP of Activision Marketing and Natasha Tatarchuk is the new Chief Technology Officer at the company.
Oh I can’t wait for the fallout of this decision even though we haven’t seen what she does yet, but can’t wait for that. Oh, I’m mad that rod didn’t take the position even though it’s really different from running a team versus an actual company, but people forget that
The reaction to this is so toxic. I feel it’s fair to give her a chance and see what happens. Also, we have to remember Blizzard has been a very toxic place to work at, and hopefully she can clean up their act.
shes on twitter so i wish her the best because its going to get toxic with her because she is a woman and a poc at a videogame company and typical Gamers are going to get mad
