Blizzard President Mike Ybarra, who had just returned to Microsoft after completing the acquisition, left his post not long after. Four days after Mike's departure, Blizzard Entertainment officially announced that former Call of Duty general manager Johanna Faries has been named the new president of Blizzard Entertainment.
Prior to joining Activision Blizzard, Johanna Farris worked in the National Football League (NFL). After joining Activision Blizzard, she was responsible for Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty League and Overwatch League-related esports businesses, becoming President of the Activision Blizzard Movie League in 2020. He was then promoted to General Manager of Call of Duty in 2021, while still retaining his position as President of Activision Blizzard Esports League.
Johanna Farris posted on her social media account that her day is work + yoga + games, and now she is playing Diablo 4, Call of Duty, and Baldur's Gate 3. In an open letter to Blizzard employees, she described Blizzard, Activision and King as three very different gaming companies with different games, cultures and player communities. She will continue to respect these differences and stay focused on them after she takes over at Blizzard Entertainment. She will be dedicated to thinking about what makes each of Blizzard Entertainment's games unique, and she is optimistic about Blizzard's ability to serve the player community.
At the end of the letter, Johanna Faris describes her first job in life as raising two wonderful sons, as well as finding time to do yoga and play games outside of parenthood, and Faris describes herself as a big fan of Diablo 4. Being able to take time out of kids and sports to play rather time-consuming brush games is, if true, an entrepreneur-level time management guru.