Image: Blizzard
The turbulent times at Blizzard continue, because with Jen Oneal, the recently appointed co-president is leaving the company, so that Mike Ybarra will now be the sole head of the company. Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 also take longer to develop and have been postponed – Blizzard leaves open when.
Mike Ybarra becomes sole president
Jen Oneal only took over the helm of Blizzard with Mike Ybarra in August this year after J. Allen Brack had to leave the company on allegations of sexism. Oneal does not leave the company immediately, but at the end of the year to join the Dedicating to supporting women in the gaming industry, among others at the non-profit organization Women in Games International. The fact that Blizzard is now being run by one man again after the numerous reports and the lawsuit due to a misogynistic corporate culture prompted criticism.
Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 are coming later
At the same time, Mike Ybarra announced in the context of the quarterly figures that both Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 will be delayed. He did not mention a date when the games should appear at all, because Blizzard had not previously announced any specific dates for both games, but only said that they would not appear before 2022. Ybarra did not elaborate on whether the delays are directly related to the numerous layoffs as part of the sexism allegations against the company. It is known that numerous Diablo 4 developers and Jeff Kaplan, chief developer of Overwatch, have left the company. This has by no means had a positive effect on the development times.
Sales meet expectations, forecast not
With sales of 1.88 billion US dollars in the last quarter, Blizzard met expectations, but with a forecast 2.78 billion US dollars for the current quarter, the company cannot meet them.
Most recently, Blizzard canceled the BlizzConline 2022 in-house exhibition, which was planned for February 2022 as an online event.
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